1070 Secrets & Lies

[bearcuborg]

I really loved Mr. Turner, and like Topsy-Turvy, it is a movie I never wanted to end. Albeit, I love later Turner - and with all the books, documentaries, and museum trips I’ve absorbed over my lifetime, perhaps I was an easy sell. While I’m certainly not a scholar, Spall did a fantastic job.

When I think of biopics and movies about art, I usually shudder like someone just served me a super market tomato, but lately this, alongside Renoir by Bourdos, and Museum Hours by Cohen have surprised me. In particular the soundtrack and cinematography in Turner are astounding-the cut from him painting to the rocky cliffs almost made me jump out of my theater seat.

I really don’t know how Leigh does it, but he’s one of a handful of filmmakers that I’m going to see whatever they put out.

Secrets & Lies is something of a miracle, that ending is so magnificent that each time I see it, I’m surprised when I feel encouragement and hope, even though I try to watch it once a year.

[B....]

As a first post on this exquisite form I can't help but express my delight at experiencing my purchase of such a wonderful example of the criterion catalogue. I have always felt that Brenda actually won the oscar for her role in the film; it's just that they decided to give it to someone else, who nailed it as well. The new presentation here is such a compliment to the material. A whole new ambience to draw one into the lives represented. The dvd import has been in my collection forever but THIS disc is what Criterion is all about IMO. I compliment the decision to advance the restorations & HD / UHD remastering of films like this. Be well & stay safe people!
B....

[MichaelB]

If we're not limiting ourselves to his feature length stuff, the Mike Leigh at the BBC is essential.

Very much seconded, and see also the self-explanatory Ken Loach at the BBC and the two DVD sets Alan Bennett at the BBC and Six Plays by Alan Bennett, which include unimpeachably major work by Stephen Frears (especially) and John Schlesinger, plus Lindsay Anderson's bizarre The Old Crowd, one of the most confrontational "fuck yous" to a mainstream TV viewing audience that anyone ever managed to get broadcast.

[Mr Sausage]

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[Black Hat]

Surprised nobody has chimed in yet to say anything about such a rich film. This is a personal favorite of mine but I'm curious about what we think is at the heart of the film's success. Do people connect with Secrets & Lies because of its realism or do they connect because it's a fantasy? Meaning, that what it taps into is a longing many of us have for a favorable resolution we're never going to get.

Mike Leigh has a gift for so many things but perhaps what he's best at is creating tiny parts for actors that are brilliant and memorable. In this, it's Leslie Manville's part as the social worker. It's a small part but, without it, the film would be difficult to buy into.

[therewillbeblus]

Interesting reading, though I don't know if it's a fantasy in that respect. Plenty of people can track down their parentage, but what Hortense gets is not what would meet her fantasy's expectations, nor is this arrival Cynthia's fantasy, at least not in the way she expected either. I think it's a very realistic depiction of an outcome of systems disruption, using family systems theory - in that any change in the system of roles puts stress on the dynamics at play and causes anxiety regarding functioning. Often times a positive change will cause problems, but Leigh is supremely optimistic here, and he's right to be, by showing how these triggers can also be the push it takes for people to disrupt complacency and address issues longstanding before the trigger's arrival. I like how this isn't a story of Hortense coming into a family with rigid expectations that are shattered, or anything like that. It would deflate the richness of the material by making it all about a fantasy destroyed by realism. Instead, it's just about people trying to engage with the little tangible information and resources they have, imperfectly and clumsily, but authentically- it wouldn't be honest if it were any other way.

If I have time, I'll try to revisit this to add more concrete thoughts. It's been many years since I've seen it but I remember thinking it to be one of Leigh's very best

[Michael Kerpan]

Is this streaming at the moment?

[swo17]

It is on Criterion Channel at least