Won 190 thousand dollars and lost everything: the movie that will make even the toughest people shed a tear
“Dear Leslie” places at the center of the plot a woman in her fifties who is dealing with addiction and severe poverty, this after winning hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is a film that manages to be free of clichés and yet move to the depths of the soul
The film opens when six years earlier, the protagonist, Leslie, a single mother living in the text, won $190,000, but today, she has nothing left. The time is the nineties, and Leslie returns to her addiction problems (alcohol), and without a penny in her pocket. She is thrown out of the motel where she lives, and has nowhere to go.
Pretty soon we realize that everyone close to her already knows her patterns, and are simply not ready to help her. And that includes her only 19-year-old son. After she knocks on his door again and again, he is finally willing to let her live with him for a while. From this point the mess goes on and gathers momentum – Leslie steals money from his partner, gets into trouble with the police, and falls to the bottom of the pit.
So she decides to return to the town where she was born and raised, where she finds a job at a local motel that also gives her a modest place to live. The motel is run by an American couple with a big heart who gives Leslie, for the first time in her life, respectful treatment and a lot of support. This is how the relationship between the three grows stronger and becomes the strength of the entire film, its beating heart.
At the same time, her family still refuses to believe that she will be able to change, and the result is quite heartbreaking, and manages to touch the hearts of even the most difficult viewers. Another smart choice is the fact that the film does not reveal the reason why Leslie spent all her money, which leaves the viewer with a sour sense of mystery. Just like in life itself.
This is the first film of director Michael Morris, and it is based on a script written by Ryan Bianco, which tells his personal story and the biography of his mother. As mentioned, “Dear Leslie” is a touching film, gentle and small, about a definite anti-heroine who ultimately manages to arouse sympathy, despite the fact that she makes mistake after mistake.
One of the reasons why the film is so exciting is the fact that it manages to avoid clichés admirably. It sticks to a truth and authenticity that is rare to see on the big screen, and that is a reason in itself to run and watch it.
? Did the article interest you?