Secrets and Lies
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Movie Reviews of Secrets and Lies
Movie Review: Classic Mike Leigh flick finally makes it to DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
Dysfunction is better than no function at all in Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies". Finally available on DVD to coincide with the Oscar nomination actress Imelda Staunton received for "Vera" (another film directed by Leigh), "Secrets and Lies" tells the story of a successful and well-to-do black woman Hortense Cumberbatch ( Oscar nominated Marianne Jean-Baptiste of "Without a Trace") who tracks down her birth mother. It seems her mother was a lower-class white woman named Monica Purley (Brenda Blethyn, Golden Globe winner and multiple Oscar nominee). Monica denies that she's Hortense's mother but gradually comes to accept and embrace her daughter despite their differences. A bittersweet comedy full of commanding performances, "Secrets and Lies" was a surprising box office success (hence its recognition by the Academy and the multiple nominations it deservedly earned). With rewarding performances all around and Leigh's naturalistic style, "Secrets and Lies" was a winner whether or not it pulled down any gold at Oscar time. Not bad for a guy who used to play in a band with Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music fame.
Many of Leigh's films feature uncompromising performances and partially improvised scripts. This collaborative method makes Leigh's films both unique and memorable even when they aren't very good. Luckily, "Secrets and Lies" is very, very good.
Sadly, this is a pretty bare bones affair. We get the original theatrical trailer and the theatrical trailers for "Author! Author!", "Blood & Wine" and "Class Action". It's a pity as 10 years on, it might have been interesting to catch up with the actors and the impact that their Oscar nominations had on their respective careers. There's also no commentary track but the drama speakes pretty well for itself.
A terrific, bittersweet comedy "Secrets and Lies" details the ordinary secrets we keep to ourselves and hide from each other. Leigh's marvelous direction and the ensemble cast's terrific performances elevate this from a simple movie-of-the-week on something like the Lifetime channel. Leigh's inspired approach to improvising much of the movie's dialogue with his cast (based on his character sketches and background story) creates a drama that is much closer to neo-realism in approach than just about any other film made within the last two decades. Although Leigh's made a number of stunning films, "Secrets and Lies" certainly deserves its reputation as one of his finest glimpses behind the curtain of subterfuge that's a part of the ordinary people in this terrific story.
Movie Review: Golden performance collectively. Leigh's genius shines.
Summary: 5 Stars
With regards to it's level of poignancy and bittersweetness this film rates with Mike Leigh's other film "Career Girls".
In terms of acting ability EVERYONE in this film, even the cute dog who poses for the camera, gives the performance of their lives and should've received awards. Few films leave me trembling with emotion but also loving all the characters. Timothy Spall's performance is just TOTALLY beyond explanation. I just loved his line "That's life isn't it? Somebody always has to draw the short straw" when he was speaking to the young lady with a facial scar. The power behind that line really got me thinking.
In the end basically we ALL draw the short straw although we might get there by different means.
Brenda Blethyn must've been an emotional wreck after this film similar to the character she plays. How she kept up constant weeping baffles me.
Marianne Jean -Baptiste is just beautiful. What a stunning, multi-talented actress.
Claire Rushbrook's character reminds me of so many characters i knew back in London. Good , honest hearted people, slightly near the edge but then we ALL are near the edge in truth.
A more candid look at life could not be put on film but then this is what Mike Leigh excels in.
Leigh's criticised sometimes for making his scenes dismal (although it's sunny throughout this one) and his characters wretched, beyond salvation and to be pitied but far from it. After all what he unearths is the truth that exists in families, the skeletons in the closets.
If this film had been done in Hollywood it would never have the same impact.
It's a petty argument indeed but some folk have suggested that Marianne Jean-Baptistes character is too dark skinned for her considered being of mixed parentage. I can tell them otherwise. It CAN occur on rare occasions and i have firsthand proof of this. Genetics is something we still don't have full control over, thankfully.
Forget analysing this film in detail and just enjoy a collective solid gold standard of performance.
Movie Review: 6 Stars: The Truth Shall Set You Free
Summary: 5 Stars
Over-the-top emotionally, boldly going where few films ever dare to go, Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" never fails, even after many repeated viewings, to impress with its naked, in-your-face emotionalism. Just when you think that Leigh's characters can go no further, cannot possibly peel away another layer to reveal a truth about themselves...a character or characters does just that.
Roxanne's (Claire Rushbrook) birthday "party" at her brother Maurice's (a terrific performance by Timothy Spall) house is one of the greatest scenes ever committed to film: all the secrets and lies of this family are revealed, reviled and laid out for all to accept or not. Think "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" times 10 as the old saying the truth shall set you free is applied generously as the wine flows in this scene. All of the characters attain a kind of redemption through speaking the truth: simple in concept but so very difficult in practice.
Brenda Blethyn's Cynthia is a big basket of exposed nerve endings all of which are , at the drop of a hat, ready to explode...and explode they do by way of a performance that on the one hand grates on your nerves while on the other simply tugs at your heart. You will hate Cynthia at times but ultimately she cannot, as Willy Loman by way of Arthur Miller says...be ignored.
"Secrets and Lies" is one of the greatest films ever made. It makes its play not only for your mind and succeeds but it also makes a play for your heart and soul...and succeeds in a way that only the greatest films do: with a simple re-telling of those things we all recognize as the truths of life.
Movie Review: Wonderfully funny and moving
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're a fan of Brenda Blethyn, this is a film not to be missed. Cynthia [Blethyn] has spent her entire life searching for love. Each time she thought she'd found it, she was left holding the baby. She's looked after her father until his death, and remained in the dilapidated rented home, working at a factory.
Cynthia's brother Maurice [Timothy Spall] is a successful photographer whose wife has little time for Cynthia. These two women are both jealous of what the other has.
Set in London, the time could just as easily be today or 30 years ago as Maurice plans 21st birthday celebrations for his niece. A few glasses of bubbly and all the secrets and lies of more than two decades unfold. Wonderfully funny and moving.
Movie Review: true gem on family relations
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember my wife renting this film years ago when it first came out, and loving it for its very realistic portrayal of a family not in crisis but in a kind of bad equilibrium of recrimination and misunderstanding. Well, I just saw it agian and it met the test: I was moved all over again, I laughed at the wonderful dialogue ("you been sittin there for two months with a face like a slapped a**") and acting, and found the resolution realistic. This is a truly wonderful film. At the center of a film is a brave young black woman searching for her birth mother. She meets her uncle, who is a truly courageous yet completely mundane man to all appearences.
Warmly recommended.