To Leslie

To Leslie is a 2022 American drama film directed by Michael Morris in his feature directorial debut, and written by Ryan Binaco. The film stars Andrea Riseborough as Leslie Rowland, a single mother and alcoholic who squanders all the prize money she received after winning the lottery. She soon finds the chance to redeem herself when a motel owner offers her a job. Allison Janney, Marc Maron, Andre Royo, Owen Teague, and Stephen Root are featured in supporting roles. To Leslie premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022 and was given a limited release on October 7, 2022 by Momentum Pictures. The film received critical acclaim, with Riseborough's performance garnering widespread praise and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Plot 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 19-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 and Leslie's friend 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 a 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 Pete, who buys her food, but Leslie again flees when he attempts to make sexual advances toward her.