David Webber

Who gets to be happy? Why is joy so natural to some and misery to others? Filmmaker Mike Leigh has investigated this territory before, and in the character of the furious Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), center of his new movie, Hard Truths, he has created a fountain of grief, anger and disappointment in life. Hard Truths is more difficult than most Mike Leigh movies, and yet it’s a film you just can’t stop thinking about. The director’s work so often shows us what sort of shape we’re all in at the moment; Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s extraordinary performance makes it clear that things are not so great in this world of ours.