To Leslie

"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+

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.

A rollercoaster of emotions with a tremendous performance by Andrea Riseborough. It really is one of the best performances of the year and will most liklely (but hopefully not) end up as one of the most underrated performances. I really liked the energy Riseborough pushed into her character. At first you would think she straight out overacts but this was just one facette of this very complicated but extremly natural character. She really was great and showed off all her acting strengths.

The rest of the cast was good too. We have Allison Janney in a smaller role who is okay but has one fantastic scene towards the ending.

I really loved Marc Maron. Not only becuase he had such a warm and sympahtic character, but also becuase he pulled it off so well and put so much heart into it. A great performance that deserves a shoutout.

Other than that there was not a single bad performance. Its a very good character study and thanks to a great direction really pulls all the strings that are needed. Surprisingly atmospheric too in a way, at least it felt like you can touch and feel that area it takes place and its characters.

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))

The character was so repulsive that at first I didn't think I could ever find one redeeming quality in her. She was odious. So since I didn't yet know anybody else's character, and since the whole thing was getting to be a real bummer, you know, like real life can be, I thought about dumping the whole show. But out of curiosity, I decided to hang on a bit longer.

It paid off big time. This is a great movie. It is not preachy, not judgmental, you have no idea how it will end, and it does a satisfying job. The acting is great, the script is fantastic, and the story has total credibility. I'm glad I stayed with it.