Mike Leigh’s tale of Yin and Yang sisters played memorably by two of his “Secrets & Lies” stars.

Here’s how “Hard Truths” sets us in as we sit in the theater and after we watch the silent credits.

We begin with a mother complaining to her son about slacking off, her husband not taking his shoes off in her kitchen before gardening, and to both of them about how activists raise money for their causes. She’s the kind of negative Nancy who picks arguments with people at stores and parking lots, based on how they dress, fool around, and require a parking space when she’s just sitting there. And she even has the mouth to insult them by how they dress and so forth, but, at least, those people know how to tell her off.

Because it’s still early into “Hard Truths,” and based on my reaction towards Tilda Swinton’s Karen character in “Problemista,” I wonder why we should care about her, until we try to come to the source of her problems sympathize with her. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

That downer is Pansy, and she’s played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who reunites with writer/director Mike Leigh from “Secrets & Lies.” And believe me, she’s louder and angrier here than she was before. Even her husband Curtley (David Webber) and son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) are sick of her behavior. But I can assume the reason for her irrational behavior is because she’s sick and still angry that her dead mother always criticized her.

Maybe snapping at people over the smallest details might make her a Karen, and it does get overbearing. Fortunately, it doesn’t consume the whole movie, and we’re able to see it from both sides. And the sisters are basically in the Yin and Yang analogy. Again, I’m getting a head of myself.

We also meet her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin, another “Secret & Lies” star), who is a hairdresser and has a much better attitude than she does. In fact, she has a better relationship with her daughters Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown) than what their different workplaces think of them. And she tells one of them, in regard to Pansy’s attitude: “You have to be kind to people in order for them to be kind back to you.”

Chantelle wants Pansy to visit their mother’s grave on Mother’s Day, even though she is also the person who believes: “When people die, they die. You got to move on. You can drag the dead with you forever.”

“Hard Truths” is a near perfect “Secret & Lies” reunion between Leigh, Jean-Baptiste, and Austin, because of how it deals with the characters and their own turmoil, and how it shows us the sisters on different sides of the coin. As you know, one is negative and the other tries to be positive. And yet, they allow us to acknowledge of time has treated them through the years.

If a whole new generation of 20-30-year-old movie-goers are preparing for this movie, they should look back at “Secrets & Lies,” and see how they compare and contrast with one another. Leigh directs both movies with a certain ambiance that reflects on the characters and how they’re viewed by other characters and the audience.

Even after watching this movie, I’m still conflicted by Pansy’s attitude and how she treats other people, some of which have nothing to do with her past. But maybe that’s how the film wants to see her, as a negative person full of discontent. And she also has her sister to try to talk some sense into her, and in her own scenes, we see her through her positivity. There are no guarantees of happy endings or resolved problems, and maybe that’s how life usually works for some people. “Hard Truths” is small example.

Now Playing in New York City for a One Week Engagement

Opens January 10