Secrets & Lies

I don't often cry at movies, but I did at this one. It's not a tear-jerker with all the manipulative stuff that entails (sweeping strings, zoom-ins, etc to bludgeon you into feeling what you're supposed to feel). After watching this, I want to see everything director Mike Leigh has made. It reminded me somewhat of Redford's "Ordinary People", but is a hundred times better than even that good movie. (It's set in London, UK, and all the actors and actresses speak with British accents.). Brilliant! A must-see for all who like good movies.

I loved every minute of this movie. This is one of my all time favorite movies. Very rarely do I see a movie twice. This movie I saw three times. All three times I saw this movie at the Dream Theater in Monterey. It's a great place to watch a movie.

Secrets and lies was honestly hard watch for me not becase the film is bad it is opposite it is very good but maybe this will sound nitpicky or just my personal issuse but the accents were so annoying to listen expecely from our lead female character she was to cutesy and her way of delivering lines was just to much for me and i found myself trying not to roll eyes at her,i mean actress give a good performance but her deliveries didnt work for me,and for the rest of film i must say the story is solid but nothing special,film has good emotional moments and it shows how families react to new persons in their lifes but i was excepting something more of it

In this wrenching, brilliant piece of improvisation, all the actors are thoroughly, even scarily convincing. Above this brilliant ensemble, Brenda Blethyn soars, giving perhaps the finest performance I've ever seen in a film.

First-class actors, emotional performances, storytelling as real life, the subject being the mistakes we commit and that we have no courage to assume, recognize, correct. Impeccable direction, effective filming, everything is narrated with great grace, in short, a film jewel, but attention is a very sad story.

A successful young black woman learns that the woman who gave her up for adoption is a working class white woman. While it takes a while to get going and it turns melodramatic at times, this comedy-drama is quite engaging. Leigh uses long takes for many of his scenes, letting the emotions build and adding a sense of realism to the interactions. He also elicits marvelous performances from his entire cast, who apparently were encouraged to improvise. Blethyn is superb as a woman with self-esteem issues who often carries on like a blithering idiot. Spall is likable as her supportive brother. Jean-Baptiste hits the right notes as the woman who seeks out her birth mother.

"Secrets & Lies" is a very well-written and acted film that is a complicated soap opera set in England. A young black woman (played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste in an Oscar-nominated role) wants to find out who her real mother is after her adoptive parents pass away. Enter Brenda Blethyn (also in an Oscar-nominated role) who is a working-class white woman who is experiencing hardships at home with her ungrateful daughter. Now throw in Blethyn's brother and his wife who are trying unsuccessfully to have a child of their own. Mix all these elements together and you have a film that starts very tame, but ends with fireworks. The performances are all top-notch among the five main players, with Blethyn dominating most of the action. Mike Leigh's screenplay and direction are the catalysts to this film. 4 out of 5 stars.

This might very well be Mike leigh's most casually entertaining film. It builds up its characters so richly and it does a great job of starting at the exact point in their lives that it needs to in order to get its point across and for it to actually develop its story lines and characters well. All of the performances are lovely. Spall is second best in show here, a much quieter character and role but he brings so much compassion, empathy, good willingness to the character. Of course, the stand out of the film is Brenda Blethyn. At first glance it may look gimmicky and may seem sort of comedic, but he plays with so many other notes than that. Fantastic film and strongly recommended.