TO LESLIE
****
Director: Michael Morris
Screenplay: Ryan Binaco
Principal cast:
Andrea Riseborough
Allison Janney
Marc Maron
Andre Royo
Owen Teague
Stephen Root
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 119 mins.
Australian release date: 9 March 2023.
Michael Morris has an extensive background directing television series but hasn’t ventured into making feature films prior to his impressive debut, To Leslie. His film has caused quite a stir in Hollywood circles because its star, English actress Andrea Riseborough, has been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance due to a celebrity-driven campaign that Morris and his thespian wife organised. They enlisted their friends in the film industry to host screenings of the movie and its reputation grew through word-of-mouth and social media posts, resulting in the controversial nomination. Which is not to say that Riseborough didn’t deserve it – she is absolutely extraordinary – it’s just that the campaign was unorthodox and bordered on breaching the Academy’s rules about directly lobbying its members for support of a specific person. In the end, because Riseborough herself was not involved in the push, the nomination was allowed to stand.
Leslie ‘Lee’ Rowlands (Riseborough) is an alcoholic mess, a single mother living in Braddock, Texas, with a young son, when she wins US$190,000 in the state lottery. Six years later, she is broke again, having drunk away the opportunity to change her life for the better. When she goes to visit her now 19-year-old son, James (Owen Teague), she swears she’s on the wagon but that’s a lie and, after a particular act of betrayal, James kicks her out and she returns to her West Texas roots. At first, she moves in with old friends Nancy (Allison Janney) and Dutch (Stephen Root) but before long she burns her bridges there, too, and ends up homeless and reduced to sleeping rough. One morning, she is found by kind-hearted Sweeney (Marc Maron), who manages a local motel for his friend Royal (Andre Royo), and he offers her a job as a cleaner. It’s her chance to put her life right but will she be able to control her demons and seize the break?
Leslie is a total screw-up but Riseborough imbues her with humanity and you can’t help but feel for this hopeless case, even though you wouldn’t want her in your home. The actress is on screen in almost every scene and it’s a bravura act as we observe Lee hanging out in bars and dives, either drunk or hungover. She’s compelling yet somehow sympathetic, which is largely due to Ryan Binaco’s compassionate screenplay. Morris explains that, “Binaco wrote the script as a love letter to his mother. But unlike most love letters, Ryan never glossed anything over, or pretended that Leslie was nobler than she actually was in life. His clear-eyed honesty was what I responded to the most: the gift of seeing someone as they are, and allowing that to be enough… In Leslie I wanted to present a whole person, her flaws and her strengths. All of her. I wanted the camera to find those small moments, those tiny glances that have the power to transform us.” Having seen Riseborough in the role, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Leslie. She’s surrounded by an equally adept cast, especially Allison Janney, who’s viperous Nancy has had a gutful of Leslie, and Marc Maron as the good-natured, gentle Sweeney.
To Leslie is a masterful achievement, having been made on a miniscule budget of around a million dollars. Shot on 35mm film, it’s a great looking film, too, and it features songs from a swag of well-known country artists like Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and George Jones, among others. Whether or not Riseborough wins the Oscar (I suspect it will go to Cate Blanchett), this is a movie that demands attention.
Screenplay: Ryan Binaco
Principal cast:
Andrea Riseborough
Allison Janney
Marc Maron
Andre Royo
Owen Teague
Stephen Root
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 119 mins.
Australian release date: 9 March 2023.
Michael Morris has an extensive background directing television series but hasn’t ventured into making feature films prior to his impressive debut, To Leslie. His film has caused quite a stir in Hollywood circles because its star, English actress Andrea Riseborough, has been nominated for an Academy Award for her performance due to a celebrity-driven campaign that Morris and his thespian wife organised. They enlisted their friends in the film industry to host screenings of the movie and its reputation grew through word-of-mouth and social media posts, resulting in the controversial nomination. Which is not to say that Riseborough didn’t deserve it – she is absolutely extraordinary – it’s just that the campaign was unorthodox and bordered on breaching the Academy’s rules about directly lobbying its members for support of a specific person. In the end, because Riseborough herself was not involved in the push, the nomination was allowed to stand.
Leslie ‘Lee’ Rowlands (Riseborough) is an alcoholic mess, a single mother living in Braddock, Texas, with a young son, when she wins US$190,000 in the state lottery. Six years later, she is broke again, having drunk away the opportunity to change her life for the better. When she goes to visit her now 19-year-old son, James (Owen Teague), she swears she’s on the wagon but that’s a lie and, after a particular act of betrayal, James kicks her out and she returns to her West Texas roots. At first, she moves in with old friends Nancy (Allison Janney) and Dutch (Stephen Root) but before long she burns her bridges there, too, and ends up homeless and reduced to sleeping rough. One morning, she is found by kind-hearted Sweeney (Marc Maron), who manages a local motel for his friend Royal (Andre Royo), and he offers her a job as a cleaner. It’s her chance to put her life right but will she be able to control her demons and seize the break?
Leslie is a total screw-up but Riseborough imbues her with humanity and you can’t help but feel for this hopeless case, even though you wouldn’t want her in your home. The actress is on screen in almost every scene and it’s a bravura act as we observe Lee hanging out in bars and dives, either drunk or hungover. She’s compelling yet somehow sympathetic, which is largely due to Ryan Binaco’s compassionate screenplay. Morris explains that, “Binaco wrote the script as a love letter to his mother. But unlike most love letters, Ryan never glossed anything over, or pretended that Leslie was nobler than she actually was in life. His clear-eyed honesty was what I responded to the most: the gift of seeing someone as they are, and allowing that to be enough… In Leslie I wanted to present a whole person, her flaws and her strengths. All of her. I wanted the camera to find those small moments, those tiny glances that have the power to transform us.” Having seen Riseborough in the role, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Leslie. She’s surrounded by an equally adept cast, especially Allison Janney, who’s viperous Nancy has had a gutful of Leslie, and Marc Maron as the good-natured, gentle Sweeney.
To Leslie is a masterful achievement, having been made on a miniscule budget of around a million dollars. Shot on 35mm film, it’s a great looking film, too, and it features songs from a swag of well-known country artists like Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and George Jones, among others. Whether or not Riseborough wins the Oscar (I suspect it will go to Cate Blanchett), this is a movie that demands attention.