2 Best Movies to Watch by Keylee Jade Flanders

A woman yearns to find her biological mother, another woman struggles with infertility, a third wants to connect with her rebellious daughter. Director Mike Leigh has the prowess to seamlessly weave these stories together, and part of the joy is knowing, that like clockwork, these narratives are set on a spectacular collision course.

As melancholy as it is optimistic and as funny as it is tragic, Secrets & Lies is a perfect example of Leigh’s oeuvre and earned him a Cannes’ Palme d’Or. The film features a full cast of his regulars with the fantastic addition of Marianne Jean Baptiste as Hortense - the woman who sets the wheels of the film in motion.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Alison Steadman, Amanda Crossley, Angela Curran, Annie Hayes, Anthony O'Donnell, Brenda Blethyn, Brian Bovell, Claire Rushbrook, Clare Perkins, David Neilson, Denise Orita, Elizabeth Berrington, Emma Amos, Frances Ruffelle, Gary McDonald, Gordon Winter, Grant Masters, Hannah Davis, Jane Mitchell, Janice Acquah, Jean Ainslie, Joe Tucker, Jonny Coyne, Kate O'Malley, Keylee Jade Flanders, Lee Ross, Lesley Manville, Linda Beckett, Liz Smith, Lucy Sheen, Margery Withers, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Metin Marlow, Mia Soteriou, Michele Austin, Nitin Ganatra, Paul Trussell, Peter Stockbridge, Peter Waddington, Peter Wight, Phil Davis, Phyllis Logan, Rachel Lewis, Richard Syms, Ron Cook, Ruth Sheen, Sheila Kelley, Stephen Churchett, Su Eliott, Su Elliot, Su Elliott, Terence Harvey, Theresa Watson, Timothy Spall, Trevor Laird, Wendy Nottingham

Director: Mike Leigh

Rating: R

Comparisons are easy between friends and within peer groups, but the comparison that is most immediate is that between you and your sibling, especially when they wound up more successful than you are. Hilary and Jackie captures that experience between two real-life musical sisters, but the comparison is so much more difficult as Jackie shot to cellist superstardom, even with under the same musical beginnings as her less known sister Hilary. It’s flawed, but it’s deeply personal, diving into their shared anxieties from two different lives, and it’s surprisingly well-rounded, perfectly halved between the sisters’ perspectives led excellently by Rachel Griffiths and Emily Watson. Hilary and Jackie is not comfortable to watch, especially during Jackie’s later years, but it’s a daring portrait of a difficult, but still loving, sibling relationship.

Genre: Drama, Music

Actor: Anthony Smee, Bill Paterson, Carla Mendonça, Celia Imrie, Charles Dance, David Morrissey, David Shimwell, Delia Lindsay, Emily Watson, Grace Chatto, James Frain, Jon Rumney, Keylee Jade Flanders, Kika Mirylees, Linda Spurrier, Maggie McCarthy, Nick Haverson, Nyree Dawn Porter, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Rietti, Rupert Penry-Jones, Vernon Dobtcheff

Director: Anand Tucker