#LFF Another Year with director/cast Q&A

Didn't get tickets to the actual glitzy gala thingy in Leicester Square, with all the celebs, but in a marvellous innovation they decided to broadcast the event live to cinemas around the country. So instead I walked the 15 minutes to the very nice Clapham Picture House and sat with South West London's finest, with a very quaffable glass of cabernet sauvignon. (And rather than costing £35 it cost £6.5o with my PH membership, bit of a bonus there).

We didn't get the live coverage of the red carpet as promised but we did get the opening speeches and the cast and director Q&A afterwards.

But first the film. Now I like Mike Leigh's films. I like the ordinaryness of them but how he manages to turn that ordinaryness into something that is engaging and entertaining. It's not for everyone, I know but there is something quite profound in everday existence.

The story, as the name suggests, takes in a year in the lives of Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen). First up, Tom and Gerri are happily married. They work, Gerri as a counsellor and Tom as an engineer. They have a garden and an allotment. They have a son who is normal and well-adjusted. And they have good friends. They are normal.

There is no high drama in their lives but the piece explores differing attitudes towards life, the choices made and how they deal with what life throws at them.

It is superbly acted, as you might imagine with a cast that also includes the wonderful Lesley Manville as Gerri's friend Mary, Oliver Maltman as Tom's friend Joe and a cameo appearance from Imelda Staunton. And it is funny, sad, moving, frustrating and above all entertaining.

The process from which the film was made was really interesting.  The actors spoke of how they had been approached by Mike and signed up without knowing the character they would play or what the film was about. He then spent 18 weeks working with each actor going through 40 years of their character's back story, bringing in other actors at the appropriate time when those characters would have met.

Filming then took 12 weeks and was largely unscripted, the actors picking up at the point at which pre-production work had got there character to and often improvising. Mike Leigh described the process as "structured improv"

Even dividing the film up into seasons happened organically rather than being planned.

If you like Mike Leigh and his approach to story telling they you will enjoy this film. I give it four out of five stars.