To Leslie

Year: 2022

Actors: Owen Teague, Allison Janney, Andrea Riseborough, Stephen Root

Duration: 119 min

Leslie is a troubled and manipulative alcoholic from West Texas who won $190,000 in a local lottery, only to squander the winnings on liquor and drugs. Six years later, Leslie is destitute, living a peripatetic life in motels and on the streets. After being kicked out of a residential motel, she reunites with her estranged twenty-year-old son, James, who allows her to live with him under the provision that she not drink. Leslie soon steals money from James's roommate, Darren, and James discovers liquor bottles under her bed, leading him to call his grandmother, Leslie's mother, Nancy, for help.Nancy and her boyfriend Dutch reluctantly allow Leslie to stay with them, but lock her out in the middle of the night when she visits the local bar and is spotted by Pete, one of their friends. Leslie sleeps outside next to motel, where she is found at dawn by Sweeney, one of the proprietors. He orders her to leave, and she flees, leaving her suitcase behind. She is met outside a convenience store that night by an old acquaintance who buys her food, but Leslie again flees when the man attempts to make sexual advances toward her.Leslie returns to the motel in search of her suitcase, and the benevolent Sweeney impulsively offers her a job cleaning rooms, in exchange for a small wage and boarding. Royal, who helps run the motel with Sweeney, is cold toward Leslie, whom he has known since childhood. Leslie is frequently unpunctual to her duties, and continues to spend her earnings on alcohol, frequenting local bars. Late one night, Leslie drunkenly wanders to the home she raised James in, startling the family who now lives there. The homeowners phone Sweeney, who returns Leslie to the roadhouse.Disappointed by Leslie's lack of commitment, Sweeney intends to fire her, but he relents when she assures him she intends to change her ways. With nowhere left to turn, Leslie attempts to focus on her job and maintain sobriety as she suffers through alcohol withdrawal. Leslie and Sweeney develop a friendship, bonding over their mutual history of addiction. Leslie accompanies Sweeney to a local fair, where he meets with his ex-wife, Bernice, and visits with his daughters. Leslie gets into a confrontation with her mother at the fair, who lambasts her in front of Sweeney for having abandoned James when he was a child.Later that day, Leslie quits her job at the motel. She phones James at a laundromat, leaving a message telling him she loves him, before visiting the bar, where she converses with a handsome young man. She orders a beer, but decides not to drink it. Meanwhile, Sweeney searches for Leslie, and arrives at the bar, but she has already left. Leslie squats in an abandoned ice cream shop across the street from the motel, and watches as Sweeney returns. In the morning, she awakens Sweeney, and tells him she wants to fix up the ice cream shop.Ten months later, Leslie is sober and with Sweeney and Royal's help, has renovated the ice cream shop, which she has turned into a diner. On the opening day, Leslie receives no customers. Nancy arrives that evening at closing time, and Leslie accuses her of sabotaging the business's opening by telling the locals not to go. Instead meeting Leslie with rage, Nancy apologizes to Leslie for not being emotionally present throughout Leslie's life. Nancy further surprises Leslie by revealing she has brought James with her. Royal and Sweeney prepare a meal for them, and the two embrace.

Genre: Action   Drama