June 19, 2023

Day: 19, Movie: 19

Last year, Andrea Riseborough received a controversial Best Actress in a motion picture Oscar nomination from out of nowhere for her role in the independent film, To Leslie. It was unexpected and got a lot of people talking.

She deserved that nomination 100%.

I watched To Leslie this morning for the June Swoon 2 on Netflix and this movie was excellent. Andrea Riseborough played Leslie, a former lottery winner who drank away her winnings and ended up leaving her son, James (Owen Teague).

Hitting the bottom, Leslie returned to her hometown trying to find any way to survive. When local motel clerk Sweeney (Marc Maron) offered her a job as a maid, Leslie finally had to confront the demons that had sent her down her life’s path.

Andrea Riseborough was amazing as Leslie. Her performance was stellar, with every look, every glance filled with pain and meaning. The struggle of alcoholism was real and Riseborough portrayed it with an achingly powerful realism.

She masterfully played on the emotions of the viewers. At the beginning of the movie, I found her to be a horrible character and, before long, I was rooting for her. She ran the gamut of emotions and I was never quite sure what the end result of the film was going to be.

Marc Maron as Sweeney was a awesome supporting character as well, bringing a lifeline to Leslie just when she needed it. At first, you wondered why he decided to do what he did for Leslie, but as the film progressed, his motivations became obvious and perfectly understandable.

The film also featured an epic performance from Allison Janney as Nancy. When we first meet Nancy, you could understand and support her and as the movie moved along, Nancy became more of an antagonist that the audience could hate. This character was so three-dimensional that she felt like a real person who held grudges and who had reasons for them.

These characters in this movie were extremely well written and developed. They were real people facing the difficulties that life brought and not always facing then in a positive manner. There is an authenticity to the story and the characters that serves this film well.