Hard Truths

Greetings again from the darkness. Mike Leigh has long been one of the most interesting filmmakers working. His projects vary greatly and include such gems as HIGH HOPES (1988), VERA DRAKE (2004), HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (2008), ANOTHER YEAR (2010), and MR TURNER (2014). His actors always seem at the top of their game in his films, and this latest is no exception. Marianne Jean-Baptiste tears into her role as Pansy, one of the most chronically agitated women you've ever experienced.

We witness first-hand as Pansy berates so many different people ... often for just doing their job (not up to her standard) or simply just being (in a spot Pansy doesn't want them to be). She's a non-discriminating grumpy woman whether shopping, visiting a medical professional, or even around her family. Her depressive nature tends to boil over as anger or an irrational sensitivity to most living things. Watching her lambaste her husband Curtley (David Webber) or her 22 year old son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) is cringe-inducing, yet it becomes quite curious when neither react to her outbursts. Their stone-faced demeanor says so much.

Pansy's sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) is quite the contrast as a normal woman, upbeat hairstylist, and mother of two well-adjusted adult daughters. Sisters Pansy and Chantelle planning a trip to visit their mother's grave for Mothers' Day somehow becomes the crux of the story, and exposes more of the pain Pansy lives with on a minute-by-minute basis.

This is Marianne Jean-Baptiste's return to the world of Leigh cinema - in 1996, she starred in SECRETS AND LIES, a much different role for the talented actor. This time she gets to epitomize what so many of us feel ... most people and most things across most of this world we live in are not quite right. Our ability to cope boils down to how we learn to live with all of the annoyances. Do we lash out? Do we take the abuse? Do we shift our attitude and find joy wherever possible ... making a positive impact? It's clear some folks don't possess the inner-strength to find peace. It's up to the rest of us to understand and help as best we can.

Opens in theaters on January 10, 2025.