02/02/2011
Review by David Anthony
When I mentioned which bittersweet films I intended to review today a friend commented that this seems to be a season for such melancholy types of movies.
“Biutiful” starring the telegenic Javier Bardem is a moving filmic excursion into the netherworld of immigrant life in the Cataluña or Catalonia (i.e., Catalán) region of Spain. Bardem plays a divorced father striving to raise two kids as a single parent, seeking to insulate his children from the ravages of an out of control co-dependent ex-spouse whose well of emotional need is impossibly deep and thus renders her incapable of resisting or restraining her urges and is, therefore, a slave to their excesses.
In its depiction of the struggles faced by West African, particularly Senegalese, and Chinese immigrants, not only to eke out something approaching a living, but literally to stay alive, “Biutiful” has a cinéma vérité quality, often resembling a documentary. There is little distance between art and life in these stories, but that is not all there is to “Biutiful.” In fact, there is also a magical realism that operates in reconstructing a past, lived and imagined, linking Uxbal [OOSH-bal], Bardem’s character, and his late father’s spirit. This conveys something very different from the gritty, grimy here and now of the hard scrabble, dog eat dog environment in which he must prepare for his demise. It is a rare filmmaker and film that can negotiate these two worlds of imagination and reality; Bardem guides us but director Alejandro González Iñárritu created them. “Biutiful” then is beautiful in every way, even if it leaves us in tears.
By contrast, “Another Year” is a four act Mike Leigh play which follows each season in the annual life of a middle aged married couple whose relationship is refreshingly sane when considered alongside the desperate despairing loneliness of some of their age-mate friends and acquaintances. It features Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen as Tom and Gerri, respectively, a pair of professionals whose coupling was clearly a good idea, and who have managed to carve out a kind of co-existence that nourishes them and their son. Sadly this seems the exception rather than the rule for others in their circle, especially Mary (Lesley Manville) and Ken (Peter Wight), decidedly not a couple, who regularly seek to drown their sorrows in whatever alcoholic beverage is available, (wine for Mary, beer for Ken), with predictable results. As impressive as are Broadbent’s Tom and Sheen’s Gerri, it is Manville’s Mary who captivates us all the way through, nowhere more than in the final frame when she stares silently into the camera, her face and eyes revealing every ounce of envy and pain she possesses.
“Another Year” almost scared me away as I read its sad description; in the end I am glad I overcame my initial anxiety about seeing it. It is a well-crafted work indeed. Mike Leigh, whose recent works include Happy Go Lucky and Vera Drake is truly at the top of his game. “Another Year” rewards viewers in every possible way. While it should surely grab heartstrings, it also allows us to leave a theater on both our legs.
For the KUSP Film Gang, this is David Anthony.