Leslie has reached that point in her alcoholism where she has no more bleeps to give. She knows she’s a drunk and she knows YOU know she’s a drunk, and you can deal with it or not, because she’s too busy telling the bartender she needs a refill. She’s loud and she’s having trouble putting together a coherent sentence and her lipstick is smeared and there’s a legit chance she’ll fall over right in the middle of dancing to that country song — and when she wakes up tomorrow morning feeling like a cartoon character who’s been smashed in the head with an anvil, she’ll spend the day shaking off the pain so she can spend the night doing it all over again.
The British actress Andrea Riseborough plays the title character in Michael Morris’ miniature masterpiece “To Leslie,” and her richly layered, utterly authentic and heartbreakingly effective performance ranks with the work of Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in “Days of Wine and Roses,” Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas” and Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart.” With director Morris filming “To Leslie” in beautiful and stark 35mm that gives the present-day, Texas setting a 1970s vibe, and screenwriter Ryan Binaco providing some of the most genuine and quietly powerful dialogue in any movie this year, Riseborough hits a wide range of notes, from the most subtle of expressions to the loudest of explosions, and never misses the mark. We believe every day, every hour, every moment of Leslie’s life — and it has not been an easy road.
