Another Year: A film about adults, for adults

By Mad Dog
Published: Dec 31, 2010

December brings “screeners” — DVDs of new films that the producers and studios consider award-worthy. This year’s crop is a stone bore; only “The Fighter” has grabbed us. Go out to a film? Same story. With one exception so far: Mike Leigh’s “Another Year.” It seems almost like a throwaway: a happy couple in their 60s, their less happy friends and family, their “dark horse” of a son. But we watched it as if it were the car chase in “The French Connection,” and, days later, scenes still flash us back. It’s the only grown-up film for grownups out there, which may explain why it was beloved at Cannes, on “ten best” lists here and beloved by those who are lucky enough to live in cities where it’s playing.