Powerful drama about abortionaybe you've never seen Imelda Staunton on the English stage or caught her in films such as Crush and Peter's Friends. But she'll blow you away as Vera Drake, a wife and m in 1950s London who sidelines doing illegal abortions. For no money, of course. Her heming friend Lily (the brilliant Ruth Sheen) covertly pockets the cash. Vera just wants help the poor dears who can't help themselves, unlike the rich, who can afford safe, ivate clinics. hat could have been soap opera is lifted to the realm of stirring human drama through the timate artistry of Staunton. This is acting at its finest. And the bar is raised further writer-director Mike Leigh (Naked, Secrets and Lies), who contrasts Vera's cret life with her loving time at home with husband Stan (the fine Phil Davis) and their own children. Though Leigh doesn't moralize, he unsparingly details the crude implements ra uses to induce a miscarriage. And when a patient nearly dies and the police bust in to rest Vera at a family dinner, her world collapses. Using Staunton's face as his canvas, igh crafts a powerfully moving film that is unmissable and unforgettable.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.