To Leslie

I found this film evocative and provocative. It was a deep dive into the pain and wreckage that is left in the wake of addiction. Andrea Riseborough transforms herself into a down and out alcoholic who is on a day to day survival program. Her non-verbal acting is over the top good.

Mark Moran appears as an unlikely hero who demonstrates what the power of believing in someone can do.

Andre Royo (loved him in the Wire) plays a lovable sidekick with no shortage of street wisdom.

I highly recommended this movie to anyone who is interested in a human drama about a human being searching for redemption.

"To Leslie" was already on my watch list for the year before Andrea Riseborough was nominated for an Oscar, but her surprise nomination moved it to the top of my queue. Fans of her performance would have you believe it's the greatest thing ever etched into the eternity of cinema heaven, but I kept my expectations in check because we're talking about social media in 2023 and mankind has lost its ability to have perspective on literally anything.

And I was right to be cautious. Riseborough gives a good performance in a solid film. It's certainly better than many performances the Academy has nominated over the years, but not as good as many others. She's a very mannered actress, which has always prevented me from liking her in other things. I've never liked her more than I did in this, so there's that. But the bar wasn't set high. Her performance is showy and Oscar-baity, and she never for a second stops Acting with a capital "A."

The movie around her is standard issue addiction drama, misery porn for about an hour and a half and then a pat and tidy redemptive ending tacked on when the writers knew they had pushed the audience's endurance for feeling crappy just shy of the breaking point.

The film's best asset and the one nobody is talking about is Marc Maron. If anyone from the film should have nominated, it's him.

Grade: B+

One of the very best films I saw at SXSW 2022.

I don't usually cry watching films but the characters were so genuine and heartfelt that I did. Another male audience member said the same thing: not someone who cries but this time yes. One thing I really liked was the way in which the writers don't spoon feed you the story; some things are unexplained and you don't always understand exactly why or what is happening just like in real life. Combined with the handheld camera work, there was a gritty fly on the wall perspective. This gave it the feel of a "filmmaker film" rather than a Hollywood focus group formula.

Andrea really showed her acting chops; I had to look her up and see what films I had been missing. But sadly she seems to have mostly been in schlocky formulaic films in the past. Hoping this is the inflection point where she starts getting more roles of the caliber of her acting.

Everyone loves a winner, which is why so many movies showcase success. If you are going to showcase failure, you'd better know what you are doing. And the team behind TO LESLIE -- director Michael Morris and writer Ryan Binaco -- know exactly what they are doing. The script in particular is so precise you could study it in film class. Literally 60 seconds after you encounter the central character (Leslie) winning a lottery, you re-engage with her years later -- drunk and mean and homeless. The viewer is hooked. The dialog throughout is fat-free, and the direction never once relies on cheap tricks (like loud background music) to make a point. The unspoken truth with these sorts of stories is that Leslie could be you, or someone you know. We all make mistakes. And we all try to fix them. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we don't. Andrea Riseborough as Leslie gives an awesome performance; and Stephen Root, way outside of his usual comfort zone, is a standout. Marc Maron is in a class by himself -- he could give acting clinics on "empathy." Easily one of the most engaging films of the year. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

A young mother wins and then squanders a lottery win, losing herself to alcoholism and her family to the aftermath. The film charts her journey to redemption.

I think it's rare to see performances like this one. Yes there's oscar winners every year, but they tend to be for formulaic roles and popular roles, rather than for technical merit as an actor.

In To Leslie Riseborough reminds us what acting really is. You don't see an actor playing the role of a recovering alcoholic, you see a recovering alcoholic. She breathes life into the role and every nuanced move, glance, pursing of lips, scrunching of eyes, movement of body is the epitome of a woman in torment. Her delivery is perfect.

I was shocked to see her so thin which lent authenticity to the role, but she had me right from the opening scene right the way through to the very last scene where she held nothing back. She gave everything to her part.

It reminded me of Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Total immersion into the role where the pretended morphed into the real and you forgot it was acting.

To Leslie was flawlessly directed and Riseborough benefited from a strong cast. Janney was her usual excellent self, but there was not one weak character in the film.

Absolutely spellbinding and I give this a very rare 8.