Secrets & Lies [IMPORT]

Rating:
Summary: Powerful emotional experience
Review: This film is possibly the most emotionally powerful film I have ever seen. I have never cared more for a group of characters as I did for those in "Secrets and Lies." Director/writer Mike Leigh is famous for giving his actors the outlines of their characters and having them improvise most of their lines. This technique succeeds brilliantly here - you feel as if you're a part of these people's lives. All the actors turn in wonderful performances - Brenda Blethyn as the long-suffering poor single English mother, Marianne Jean Baptiste as a young black girl in search of her natural parents, Claire Rushbrook as Blethyn's rebellious daughter, and Phyllis Logan as Blethyn's well-to-do yet frustrated sister in law. At the center of it all is a monumentally understated performance by Timothy Spall, who as Blethyn's brother attempts to hold everyone's lives together as they face the pain of their ordinary existence. A truly moving film that is one of the best ever.

Rating:
Summary: Mike Leigh's most accessible, emotional film - just perfect
Review: I've seen a good number of Mike Leigh's films over the years, from early works like Bleak Moments and Abigail's Party to later indie hits like Life Is Sweet, Naked, and High Hopes, but THIS is his BEST, most perfectly realized film to date - from the pitch-perfect performances of the entire cast (due to months of exhaustive rehearsal to develop the each character no matter how small or large the role) to the understated, minimalist direction to the somber score to the conversational "script," SECRETS & LIES slowly builds until its cumulative effect toward the climax is one of the deepest emotional blows ever deliver on film - you feel as if you KNOW and LIVE with these people, so that they cease to be mere characters on screen and, well, like your own circle of family and friends - not always pretty, often messy, always brilliant, SECRETS & LIES deserves to be on DVD to a wider audience can share in its spell it casts over you. My only gripe is Fox's typically bare-bones DVD format - c'mon, NO commentary from Leigh on his creative process, NO insights from the cast, many of which went on to win a clutch of awards and crossover American work (Blethyn, Baptiste, etc.), NO featurette or DELETED scenes! The film itself is enough, I just wish there were a bit more to flesh out the entire experience.

Rating:
Summary: highly recommendable
Review: This movie about family secrets is wonderfully funny and touching at the same time, very entertaining, how a black girl, well educated and wealthy, finds out about her real mother. That one is a white frustrated working class lady, who first cannot accept the truth. Thrilling how all the family secrets are finally unveiled. A film for all ages.

Rating:
Summary: When is this movie coming out??
Review: This movie is genius in the fact that there was no script and absolutely phenominally acted. It received Oscar nominations that included major categories (Best film, actress, and supporting actress). It is one of the best movies from England and should have received more attention. Please watch this movie, it is incredible!

Rating:
Summary: Mike Leigh's Brilliant Depiction of Private Family Life...
Review: The film begins with the funeral of Hortense Cumberbatch's (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) stepmother. Hortense, a black successful optometrist, is highly curious about the identity of her birthmother as she has been aware since childhood that she was adopted. Through an adoption agency she receives the papers that prove the identity of her birth mother, which initially seems to be erroneous, as she appears to be white. Hortense then decides to take the big step to contact her birth mother whom she has never known for over thirty years.

The mother, Cynthia Rose Purley, (Brenda Blethyn) a chain smoking co-dependent anxiety ridden factory worker lives in the same council house, which her parents lived in as she nursed them to their death bed. Cynthia shares the house with her daughter, Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook), who works as a street cleaner. The relationship between Roxanne and Cynthia is strained as Cynthia is clinging onto Roxanne through questions and continuous hassle. Roxanne is also spoiled by Cynthia's younger and successful brother Maurice (Timothy Spall) and his wife, which seems to add strain between Cynthia and Roxanne.

Secrets & Lies is a wonderful film that projects a family's lack of communication and difficulty in understanding one another. Mike Leigh touches the very essence of humanity as the family avoids the difficult issues through white lies and tiny secrets. The family creates several little fabrications that have been complied over several decades and when Hortense appears she functions as catalyst for the truth. It should be mentioned that the secret of Hortense is only a minor part of the all the secrets.

The intimate direction of Mike Leigh creates an authentic family atmosphere that is brought to the audience as if it was the audience's own family. This generates a genuine feeling within the audience as the story unfolds. The cast performs brilliantly as they enhance the cinematic quality of the story. Brenda Blethyn performs as Cynthia with real conviction, and she received the reward for best actress for this part in Cannes in 1996. Ultimately, Secrets & Lies offers a truly brilliant cinematic event that touches the soul as the characters exorcise the family demons.