Andrea Riseborough’s surprise Best Actress Oscar nomination, reportedly the result of a concerted campaign on the part of her and her PR team, will likely draw a lot of movie fans who might have overlooked To Leslie otherwise. It’s an earnest portrait of an alcoholic woman from a small Texas town who once won a large sum of money in the lottery and then burned through it quickly in a blur of partying. Seven years later she hits bottom and, broke, gets kicked out of the motel where she lives. Dragging along a pink suitcase with all of her belongings, she shows up at the apartment of her 19-year-old son, James (Owen Teague), hoping to crash, and, of course, makes a mess of it. Understanding his mother’s weaknesses intimately, James has moved on and is attempting to make something of his life. He ends up kicking her out, too, and she has nowhere to go but back to her hometown, where, as she admits to herself and others, everyone thinks she’s “shit.”

It’s perhaps a backhanded compliment to say that director Michael Morris elevates all the cliches associated with this kind of story. Since it takes place completely within a specific milieu we are spared the kind of condescension toward people who live day-to-day that you often see in movies where inter-class friction sparks whatever drama is generated. Everyone Leslie comes into contact with is only a step or two further along economically than she is, but the difference between an addict and one who isn’t, even in such an environment, can be dramatic in its own way. In this case, two of Leslie’s old friends (Allison Janney, Stephen Root), who, we are led to believe, had no small part in helping her spend her winnings, treat Leslie with the suspicion she deserves but go the extra cruel mile to humiliate her in public, despite the fact that their own lives practically scream, “there but for the grace of God…” At the other end is Sweeney (Marc Maron), a good-natured motel manager who employs Leslie as a housekeeper against his better judgement, because, as we eventually learn, he’s been there himself, but also because he’s attracted to her. His trust is the only thing she has to hold on to, and the two actors make the most of this spiky dynamic.

Much of what makes To Leslie interesting to watch is the way Riseborough and her co-stars, not to mention Morris’s empathetic direction, rise above the mediocre material. Screenwriter Ryan Binaco was aiming for something simple and affecting, but the arc of the story lands nowhere surprising or enlightening. At times, these people are as real as any you’ll find in a fiction film, but by the end they’re wedged into a situation that could only happen in a movie. 

Opens June 23 in Tokyo at Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho (03-6268-0015), Shibuya Cine Quinto (03-3477-5905).

To Leslie home page in Japanese

photo (c) 2022 To Leslie Productions, Inc.