To Leslie Movie review and film summary (2022) || Mwreviewz

To Leslie Movie Story Link – https://mwreviewz.com/web-stories/to-leslie-movie-about-and-summary-mwreviewz/

To Leslie 2022

To Leslie in an opening credits montage of images depicting what life was like in the past we first get to know Andrea Riseborough’s title character from “To Leslie.” Leslie had a son got married won $190,000 in the lotto and then blew it all. Seven years after the lottery victory the main story begins. Leslie’s situation is bad, She is a reclusive alcoholic who is on the verge of death. She packs her meagre possessions into a pink suitcase after being evicted from the squalid motel she had been residing in and visits her son James (Owen Teague) who is now 19 years old in his flat in the city. James doesn’t enjoy seeing her, no one is delighted to see Leslie.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Leslie is an alcoholic who will use any drug that is available to him. She owes everyone money therefore she can no longer borrow from anyone. She doesn’t even stop to think about the laws and customs she’s disobeying in order to satisfy her needs and cravings since they govern her. When she has the confidence she will occasionally enter a bar or roadhouse in an effort to attract the attention of a man and persuade him to drive her home. She is more interested in the money, attention and drugs the men might offer than in having sex. James makes it clear to his mother that she is welcome to stay with him while she sorts out her life. However, she is unable to live with him and the only restriction she faces in his home is the ban on alcohol, You’re aware of how that ends up.

After winning the jackpot Leslie ultimately makes her way back to her small-town homeland, where everyone consider her to be a piece of trash in her words. What did she do to make herself feel that way? Because this is a story about individuals who might actually exist, screenwriter Ryan Binaco and director Michael Morris don’t treat it as a mystery and don’t go into great detail about the past unless it’s necessary.

The opening part of the movie is difficult to watch because it depicts the protagonist Leslie’s network of damaged or shattered relationships, including her ex-friends Nancy and Dutch (played by Allison Janney and Stephen Root) and it demonstrates the darkness she lives in on a daily basis. We see a glimmer of light as she finds her way to a little old motel managed by a kind man named Sweeney (Marc Maron) and his silly buddy Royal (Andre Royo). If Leslie can see it as well, that is the question. Leslie and Sweeney make a fantastic cinematic couple. Leslie is as turbulent troubled and introspective as he is charming straight forward and forthright. Sweeney is just as kind and giving as Leslie is clingy and deceptive. Sweeney gives her a job as a maid and a room to reside in after first chasing her off the property. Even before meeting him he acts as though he thought Leslie was someone who was applying for the maid position giving her a small gift of respect.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Characters with this level of niceness frequently end up becoming hypocrites, exploiters, or worse. But Sweeney is a decent person who genuinely seems to want to improve everyone’s lives, even if it means suffering financial setbacks and personal harm. We finally get the backstory that explains why Sweeney is so understanding and forgiving toward individuals who are dealing with Leslie’s issues, even when she is at her most harried and pitiful and yes you guessed it he has feelings for her. Riseborough and Maron have such likeable chemistry together that you know the movie will give them a happy ending even though they aren’t actually in a relationship.

“To Leslie” makes decisions that are less unconventional than one might wish for in the love story aspect as well as other aspects such as Nancy’s cartoonishly single minded determination to publicly humiliate the heroine whenever she can especially in light of how successfully the movie captures our attention by simply creating a psychologically plausible adult woman and letting us watch her exist. Leslie’s persona and Riseborough’s portrayal of her in the part transcend the rest of the movie. Although the unsophisticated acting and filmmaking especially during the raw first act, cover it up, “To Leslie” has a certain type of pleasant 1990s Sundance indie atmosphere. The movie’s plot grows increasingly predictable as it goes on and overall there are too many moments of Leslie’s early decline and not enough footage of her working diligently to right her own ship. The balance seems odd and that “Ten Months Later” ellipsis near the conclusion possibly contains a whole other more unexpected movie.

Nevertheless, this is a striking character study, Leslie frequently behaves as though she can take more from anyone who extends a hand to her. (She gets Sweeney to give her cash right now she doesn’t just ask for an advance on salary for a work she hasn’t done yet.) Additionally, she struggles to fulfil the obligations she takes and the commitments she makes. She eventually brings disarray and bitterness to every relationship. Syllogism or a self-fulfilling prophesy, is the end consequence. For example, I am a disaster thus I create disasters. Leslie is obviously not as awful as her worst enemies claim (or as that voice in her head keeps insisting) She has committed serious crimes though and the movie (mostly through Sweeney and Nancy) won’t absolve her of responsibility for them Maron’s own widely-discussed experience as a sober individual gives some of Sweeney’s dialogue more seriousness than it otherwise would have.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Morris frequently directs our attention on Leslie’s internal experiences rather than the circumstances outside of her control using his understated camerawork and meticulous staging. Riseborough who anchors every scene gets more from the outcome than just a simple showcase. You frequently get the impression that you’re watching a beginner portraying herself since she is so determined not to appeal to the audience or highlight her own virtuosity in her performance. Morris’ direction provides other directors with a model for how to make a modest movie feel enormous simply by making clear decisions and adhering to them. Leslie is shown in focus in the foreground reacting in profile during a battle that is taking place out of focus in the background in an early scene. Leslie spends the night in an abandoned ice cream shop across from the motel in a later scene, when she observes through a slat in the blinds as Royal, an acid-head and conspiracy believer, shouts at the moon in his underwear before sprinting across the parking lot to hug Sweeney. The sequence consists of just two shots: Leslie looking and her perspective on people.

An uninterrupted tracking shot of Leslie sitting at a bar at closing time, listening to a song whose lyrics appear to be a withering commentary on her life (“Is this a joke?” she asks the ceiling), then listening to the entire song as the camera draws closer to her, is the film’s tour de force for both the lead actress and the filmmakers. Leslie’s situation won’t improve at this precise time, but it is the beginning of a better phase. Riseborough’s face enables us to picture the character’s potential decisions and reversals, recriminations, and justifications. It ranks right up there with Robert De Niro’s masterful close-up silent acting in “Good Fellas,” Diane Lane’s joyous recollection of a tryst on a commuter train in “Unfaithful,” Nicole Kidman’s performance at the symphony in “Birth,” and other outstanding acting performances. To its credit “To Leslie” is designed around the extended, continuous closeups of people thinking that are a significant component of what makes film a unique art form.