Vera Drake

A new favorite film: "Vera Drake", viewed May 30, 2005. Directed by Mike Leigh; Vera played by Imelda Staunton. Interesting rehearsal technique, where actors improvised and developed their own scripts, seems to have payed off brilliantly. Roger Ebert's review is dead on. Ebert's a deeper thinker and better writer than one might expect based on his television persona. I guess the TV studio has a dumbing-down effect. Ebert has a nice database of what he considers to be the Great Movies of all time.