Mike Leigh’s thoughtful, starkly naturalistic film Another Year is meant to evoke an image of just that – another year in the life of two aging affluent Britons, Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen).

We see the variety of events that unfold throughout the year for them, while friends come and go in their lives.

The film’s secondary character is Mary (Lesley Manville), an emotionally crippled alcoholic who, for all her outward perkiness, is lonely, aging and desperately in need of some centre.

Throughout the film, Mary becomes a greater and greater burden on the couple as her emotional state weakens.

As well, there is Gerri and Tom’s aging friend, Ken (Tom Wight), who bemoans his alienation from a world that only caters to the young, while brushing aside the old.

Although the film clearly has a talented cast, the film suffers from the typical art-house syndrome of painting a bland and uninteresting picture and believing that using the best quality paints and brushes is enough to propel the art.

Director Leigh makes no attempt to convince us that this is an “entertainment” movie in the slightest.

In fact, what could be its greatest strength is actually the film’s greatest weakness: it is simply not very interesting.

Themes run strong here: changing times, growing old, emotional frailty, the need for human companionship. Unfortunately, it is all so uninteresting and un-engagingly average that it lacks the central key feature in any work of art: style.

Off-the-cuff witty banter between characters is charming at first, but because the central structure of the movie is already problematic, it doesn’t do anything for the story.

The film shows several events over the course of the year, without one point leading to another; there is a connection, but a plot is not really there.

Sympathy is perhaps the film’s greatest weakness. In order for the characters to have relevance to the audience, we must sympathize with and care for them.

However, although Tom and Gerri are likeable people, they are effectively boring. There is very little to drive real interest in the characters – with exceptions.

Lesley Manville as Mary is absolutely captivating; her body language and tone perfectly convey the troubled woman behind whatever degree of mirth found in the character. As well, matter-of-fact performances from Ruth Sheen and Jim Broadbent are quite well done.

However, despite being well put together on the technical side (acting, cinematography, soundtrack, etc.), the film’s aesthetic choices are so dull and uninspiring that they clash with the film’s obvious talents.

Published in Volume 65, Number 24 of The Uniter (March 24, 2011)