Hailed by some critics as another of Mike Leigh’s masterpieces, Another Year has been bought for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics. The Cannes film received a generally positive response and is said to be a strong contender amongst the competition films.
Another Year is set in Northern London and tell the stories of an interconnected set of family and friends, juxtaposing the issue in everyday life: loneliness and love, selfishness and kindness, birth and death. It stars Lesley Manville, Jim Broadbent, Oliver Maltman and Ruth Sheen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter the film will be showing in theatres at minimum “for Oscar-qualifying exclusive engagements in 2010.” Sony Pictures Classics specializes in foreign-produced films and handled last year’s Oscar winner in the Best Foreign Film category, Argentine thriller The Secret in Their Eyes.
In other Cannes news, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful, starring Javier Bardem is still anxiously awaiting a buyer. Reviews for the film have not been great and its cost of $25 million dollars does not work in its favor considering it would be unlikely to make the money back in domestic sales.
What do you think of SPC picking up Another Year? Do you think Biutiful will find a buyer?