February 1, 2023
FILM: TO LESLIE
DIRECTED BY: MICHAEL MORRIS
STARRING: ANDREA RISEBOROUGH, MARC MARON, ALLISON JANNEY
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
So, there’s been a lot of controversy surrounding Andrea Riseborough since she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar last week. Part of the reason is that the film had a very limited release and only made $28,000 at the box office. Now, this shouldn’t necessarily disqualify a film. After all, a good performance is a good performance regardless of how much money a film makes and how many people have heard of it.
The larger issue revolved around the tactics used to get Riseborough that nomination. Just like during our political election seasons, actors, directors, screenwriters, and so on have to campaign to get a nomination. They hire publicists to get the word out about their work. The publicists, in turn, take out ads in the major trade papers, such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. They host parties, luncheons, and special screenings. This has been going on for decades. Some blame Harvey Weinstein’s expensive Oscar campaigning for Shakespeare in Love back in the late 1990s for beating Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture. (Which have you seen or remember the most…?)
Film Independent nominated Andrea Riseborough for a Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance for To Leslie several weeks before her Oscar nomination, so some voters in that group did see it. As a voting member of Film Independent myself, I didn’t get to choose the nominees but I do get to vote on the performances. Apparently many actors also love her work in the film. Gwyneth Paltrow and Edward Norton are among the many who touted Riseborough’s performance on social media. Even Cate Blanchett, during her Critics Choice win for Tar, mentioned how much she liked it.
The big issue is that the publicists for Riseborough used a statement by Chicago critic Richard Roeper who indicated he preferred her performance to Blanchett’s. That is, apparently, a big no-no. Unlike the political race, one can’t talk down another actor’s performance to try to gain votes for an Oscar and/or nomination. So, the Academy is reviewing its campaign policies for the future, but for now Riseborough’s nomination stands.
But is her work that good? What about the film, since most people haven’t seen it? Well, Riseborough’s performance is big but she does show a lot of range. There are plenty of scenes of her as Leslie exploding at other characters. There are equal, if not more scenes, when the camera stays focused on her non-verbals as she quietly contemplates going out for another drink (she has a history of alcohol abuse) or if her life needs some serious re-evaluation.
Perhaps I should mention what the film is about. At the start of the film, we see a flashback to Leslie’s big lottery win of $190,000 several years earlier. Her adolescent son James was with her as she spoke to the media with all of the typical joyous hysteria associated with such a major win. However, we learn she lost the money rather quickly and the main focus of the film then is her downtrodden life, living off the streets with no job, and an estranged relationship with James (Owen Teague.) Eventually she meets Sweeney (Marc Maron) who runs a motel owned by a spiritual seeking man named Royal (Andre Royo.) He hires Leslie and she has many ups and downs trying to keep the job. Yet, Sweeney sees something in her (I’m not sure what) that pushes him to not give up on her. Needless to say, he’s a bit of a pushover.
All of the actors are very good. Riseborough, in part, stands out because she is at the center of the entire film and because she looks haggard and run down and she has the most to DO as an actor. This is not to say she isn’t up to the challenge or that the performance isn’t good. In fact, even though the character’s antics become old to watch after a while, we do feel something for Leslie. She has completely messed up her life but the film intends to see her through to better days.
Leslie is not the most pleasant character to follow for two hours but the characters around her are interesting and generally well developed. The town and its homes, bars, and streets feel very authentic. We can imagine the former life of these characters and the community.
I’ve now seen the film twice and was pretty engrossed the second time for many of the above reasons. Riseborough is interesting to watch on screen even if her character is not very likeable. Should she not have been nominated? Well, the other nominees in the category are very good. There were others that were left out. I’ve yet to see Viola Davis in The Woman King or Danielle Deadwyler in Till so I can’t weigh in on their work. Other possible nominees could have been Zoe Kazan or Carey Mulligan for She Said (although the latter unsuccessfully campaigned as a supporting performance.) The only other actress I definitely think should have been nominated was Emma Thompson for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.
So, it’s not really out of the question for Riseborough to be nominated. Campaign tactics aside, it’s a strong performance and she IS the center of the film. Will she win? Probably not, but it does bring our attention to her work and to those she shares screen time with in To Leslie. So, good for her.
To Leslie is currently available for rental on Amazon Prime.