In the late 1970s, a 15-year-old boy (Lucas Jade Zumann) grows up in Santa Barbara surrounded by women who have a strong influence on him. The director based his excellent Beginners (2011) on his father’s life – this drama borrows from Mike Mills’s own adolescence. Young Jamie goes through the expected teenage conflicts, but we also see him learning from his constant contact with girls and women from different generations, as he’s figuring out who he really is. Firmly grounded in women’s experiences throughout the century. Directed with a light touch, it’s a loving portrait with a particularly good performance by Annette Bening.
2016-U.S. 119 min. Color. Produced by Anne Carey, Megan Ellison, Youree Henley. Written and directed by Mike Mills. Cast: Annette Bening (Dorothea Fields), Elle Fanning (Julie Hamlin), Greta Gerwig (Abigail ”Abbie” Porter), Lucas Jade Zumann (Jamie Fields), Billy Crudup, Alia Shawkat.
Last word: “[My mom] really did say [like Dorothea], ‘I’m going to marry Bogart in the next life,’ and Bogart became key to me in understanding my mom, who emotionally reads kind of trans. Bogart’s voice helped me the most in understanding my mom, his deal of always championing the underdog, always championing the disenfranchised, the poor guy, the misbegotten. And always being the underdog himself who’s never really gonna win the battle, never really gonna get the girl, but he’s gonna go down so charismatically that it’s fine. I really feel like my mom internalized that whole model.” (Mills, Slant Magazine)
