"Hard Truths" star Marianne Jean-Baptiste and director Mike Leigh, photographed in Santa Monica in January. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) There’s a mythology that surrounds Mike Leigh’s films.

It's a good week for new film releases, mostly opening in theaters, including a must-see from Mike Leigh. Also on the slate: a popular world-cinema series in San Rafael. "Hard Truths": For more than ...

The legendary English filmmaker gushed about Sean Baker's Palme d'Or winner during a recording of THR's 'Awards Chatter' podcast. By Bryan Antunez “I think Anora is a great film, I really do,” the ...

Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), protagonist of Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” opening Friday in Houston, is not the first postmenopausal cinematic antiheroine to ask to speak to a manager. But she is — ...

The legendary English filmmaker sat down with THR during a rare trip, taken reluctantly, to Hollywood. By Scott Feinberg Executive Editor of Awards Leigh’s films have won the top prizes of both the ...

Mike Leigh movies feel like a magic trick. Observational, wry, funny, devastating and always rooted in character, Leigh allows us to take in some of the most fascinating people, the milieu they ...

“Babygirl” star Harris Dickinson is a little too young, a little too handsome, and a little too hot right now for critics to pretend as if his directorial debut exists in a vacuum, and yet the raw and ...

Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman who suffers no fools, pushing everything around her away, but also confronting deeply-held family issues. It’s also a welcome reunion for the filmmaker and one of ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

Some filmmakers have the whole movie in their heads before the first actor gets cast. On the other end of that spectrum. Some directors just kind of roll tape and let the movie happen. Then figure ...

There’s a mythology that surrounds Mike Leigh’s films. And like with any shared lore, not all of it is true. One misconception, for instance, is that his storytelling is largely improvised, as if his ...