Every award season, there is a quiet, oh-so-lovely film that moves me in every way, a contrast to the capital-C contenders that get loud, splashy Oscar campaigns and photo shoots and attention.
I cherish and tend to that film like it’s my own little pet, a special creature I am so proud of and want the world to know is exceptional. I become the film’s evangelist and, often, its delusionalist, riding out award hopes to the bitter end.
In past years, that’s included movies like All of Us Strangers, Passages, Dìdi, Eighth Grade, May December, C’mon C’mon, and fittingly, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.
I have a feeling that this year, the film whose awards prospects I become overly invested in will be Leigh’s follow-up to Hard Truths, Tender Loving Care, which I just screened at the New York Film Festival.
Tender Loving Care is reported to be the 83-year-old British auteur’s final film, capping a career of sterling dramas that includes Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Another Year.
These are projects that haven’t just locked in on some of the most intimate, profound observations of everyday humanity, but have produced definitive performances from some of Britain’s greatest actors, including Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Imelda Staunton, Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville, and Jim Broadbent.
I suspect Tender Loving Care to continue that tradition, featuring revelatory, award-worthy work from Marion Bailey and one of the year’s most exciting breakout stars, Widow’s Bay Emmy winner Kate O’Flynn.
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