HARD TRUTHS

(director/writer: Mike Leigh; cinematographer: Dick Pope; editor: Tania Reddin; music: Gary Yershon; cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Pansy), Michele Austin (Chantelle), David Webber (Curtley), Tuwaine Barrett (Moses), Ani Nelson (Kayla), Sophia Brown (Aleisha), Jonathan Livingstone (Virgil); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Georgina Lowe; Bleecker Street; 2024-UK/Spain)

“Another outstanding hard-hitting domestic drama by the great Brit filmmaker of the common people, Mike Leigh.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Another outstanding hard-hitting domestic drama by the great Brit filmmaker of the common people, Mike Leigh (“Secrets & Lies”/”Vera Drake”). Twenty-eight years has passed since writer/director Mike Leigh and actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste made Secrets & Lies. Jean-Baptiste received her first Oscar nomination, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. With Hard Truths they reunite, as she has a starring role in this modern-day character study of a dysfunctional family with her playing a bitter middle-aged protagonist raging against the world.

Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) lives in a super-clean, neat suburban home she shares with her husband Curtley (David Webber) and her taciturn 22-year-old son Moses (Tuwaine Bennett). Anger is her best trait. Her attitude is opposite of her hairdresser sister Chantelle (Michele Austin, who radiates positive energy. The Chantele’s household is a warm one, where she lives with her twenty-something daughters Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown).

The riveting performance by Marianne Jean-Baptiste carries the film. It makes us look at our own way of dealing with life’s disappointments and joys. It also makes us sympathize with the abrasive Pansy even if she’s such a hard person to like.

It played at the Toronto Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 11/17/2024  GRADE:B+
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