I Do Movies Badly: Secrets & Lies
Secrets & Lies wonderfully typifies what Leigh is capable of as a director in both the performances he gets from his actors and how subtlety explores the tension between social classes. It’s just a shame that the film’s mouthpiece also reminds us of the film’s biggest weakness.
This film didn’t need that title drop, which itself is inapt since there are only secrets rather than real lies, but it didn’t ruin anything for me.
I think one shortcoming of the improvizational approach of not telling the actors parts of their plot is that a real mother would have remembered having a mixed-race child she gave up for adoption.