20th Century Women (2016)

Comedy, Drama

Director: Mike Mills
Writer: Mike Mills
Starring: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup

20th Century Women brings the story of Jamie, a 15-year-old kid growing up in 1979 Santa Barbara with three women of various generations: his mother Dorothea (Annette Bening, in one of her best performances), her 24-year-old tennant Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and his best friend Julie (Elle Fanning), who is slightly older than him and with whom he’s kind of in love. There is also a man around, William (Billy Crudup), a thirty-something former mechanic handyman who helps his mom out with restorations on their house. We see them all through the young boy's point of view, as they all play a role in shaping him as a young man.

Writer-director Mike Mills, also a video music producer and graphic designer, uses all manners of media, including stock photos, film clips, passages from literature, quirky transitions and other visual tricks, to tell his story. A somewhat autobiographical film—Dorothea is based on Mills's mother (Christopher Plummer's character in his previous Beginners was based on his father)—20th Century Women is a not-to-complicated, easily identifiable and relatable coming-of-age story with really interesting characters, that also beautifully captures the portrait of an era, celebrating pre-Reagan Southern California.

Plot summary from IMDb: Love, life, and the struggles of a mother bringing up a son in the the early 70's. The ignorance of a free spirit against the needs of a young man trying to find his true character and beliefs. Living in a bohemian household shared with 3 like minded spirited people to help pay the rent, his mother tries to establish bonds that he cannot deal with. She cannot deal with his inability to talk, and enlists the help of other females in his life to share the burden of his upbringing. Slowly life unravels for them all without understanding how. In spite of their perceived struggles, they all go on to live defined lives without any serious consequences.

Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 65 nominations.
Runtime: 119 min
R