To Leslie

Grade: B

Remember that scene in Birdman with the homeless guy delivering the famous “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” speech from MacBeth? He admits to doing it extremely over-the-top, as he “just wanted to show you some range.” I felt similarly when watching Andrea Riseborough (who, incidentally, was in Birdman) in To Leslie. She works very hard – and from what we’ve been hearing, some people have worked quite hard to get her that Best Actress Oscar nomination. With how theatrical and big her performance is, it sometimes feels like she’s trying to get a Tony nomination. We’ve seen this kind of role and film before.

Leslie is a single mother of an estranged teenage son. She’s a homeless, jobless alcoholic. Rife with opportunities to rant, rave, cry, smudge your makeup, and otherwise act up a storm. The descriptive phrase “white trash hot mess soap opera” flashed through my mind. There is an abundance of sadness and despair here, as well as smoky dive bars with Willie Nelson music, since the characters are Southern. But the more I stuck with To Leslie, the more I grew to like it. It’s rough around the edges, but lives and breathes in a way of its own, and strives for something, just like the title character. The second half becomes uplifting, as she makes strides to repair her life and relationships.

We begin by learning that Leslie has won $190,000 in the lottery. Cut to “six years later,” when she is broke and being kicked out of an extended stay place. It’s never made completely clear what happened to all that money, but there are vague rumblings among the townspeople that she drank it all and/or put it up her nose. This is one of those towns where everybody not only knows each other, but remembers a random no-name lottery winner from over half a decade ago. Leslie goes down the list of bridges she’s burned, and people who tried to help her who got chewed up and spit out, and adds to the list in a series of episodes that involve her now 19-year-old son. She lucks into a job as a maid at a cheap motel. $7 an hour, but free room and board.

The owner, Sweeney, is played by Marc Maron with wonderful honesty, sincerity, and gentleness. A friendship blossoms between them. The way his backstory is unfolded, and how it explains why he’s so patient with her is one of the beautiful things about To Leslie. Other supporting performances also provide interesting, multilayered work. Stephen Root (the voice of Bill Dauterive on King of the Hill) and Allison Janney as vindictive former friends had me sometimes hate them, and other times I was on their side. Owen Teague is memorable and earnest as James, Leslie’s son. We see these people, then don’t see them for a little while, then they inevitably re-appear. Like I said, this is one of those towns.

What ultimately makes To Leslie work is how the nice, grounded work of the supporting cast balances out the often heightened drama of Riseborough’s performance. We, at least, are aware of her range now. This is a movie that covers a lot of ground in its two hours. There’s no fluff. We get the feeling there are interesting potential films buried within the passages of time that are glossed over, but the movie we do get is a fine one. The ending feels earned, and has a nice glimmer of hope in its own quirky little white trash hot mess soap opera way.

Grade: B