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There's no plot, but this British drama pulsates with warmth and humanity: BRIAN VINER reviews Hard Truths
Mike Leigh's mighty reputation as a filmmaker was built by gritty contemporary realism.
Mike Leigh's mighty reputation as a filmmaker was built by gritty contemporary realism, and after a pair of pictures of contrasting merit set in the 19th century – 2014's captivatingly brilliant Mr Turner and the lumpen, hugely disappointing Peterloo (2018) – he returns to more familiar pastures with Hard Truths. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, working with Leigh for the first time since Secrets & Lies bagged her an Oscar nomination almost 30 years ago, is unlucky not to have another one for her intense and extraordinary performance as Pansy, a deeply unhappy, acid-tongued woman in the grip of what appears to be severe depression. With SNL, as it is now known, having become a revered institution, Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan present that first show as a seismic moment in US TV history, using sneering old-timers like Johnny Carson (Jeff Witzke) and Milton Berle (played by JK Simmons as a sex predator) to emphasise an evolutionary shift.
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