Beginners (2011)
Directed by Mike Mills
Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna only months after his father Hal Fields has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 44 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life – which included a younger boyfriend.
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Alternatively, given the filmmaker's background in music videos and conceptual art projects (the film also showcases Mills' painting), this mellow remembrance of things past can be enjoyed as a music video for " Stardust Memories ," crooned by the inimitable Hoagy Carmichael during a flashback.
No filmmaker has managed to reproduce the balance of self-indulgent neurosis and self-deprecatory irony that elevates Annie Hall and Manhattan into the pantheon of the greatest romantic comedies, not even Woody Allen.
Mills keeps things percolating—shades of Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”—by constantly jumping around chronologically.
By turns, “Beginners” suggests a new age “Jules and Jim” and a rejiggered “Annie Hall.”
A jazz-bluesy score — Hoagy Car- michael, Jelly Roll Morton — gives Anna and Oliver's courtship a hint of Woody Allen circa "Manhattan" and "Annie Hall."
As with Annie Hall and (500) Days of Summer, we know from the top that certain relationships are terminal (Hal has cancer).
No filmmaker has managed to reproduce the balance of self-indulgent neurosis and self-deprecatory irony that elevates Annie Hall and Manhattan into the pantheon of the greatest romantic comedies, not even Woody Allen.
However, while in theory the concept of flashing back and forward across the years might seem to invite confusion, writer/director Mike Mills ( Thumbsucker ) uses readily identifiable cues to keep things clear.
A smart screenplay and captivating visual devices deliver genuine emotions in "Beginners," a highly personal exploration into the mysteries of love by filmmaker, artist and graphic designer Mike Mills ("Thumbsucker").
The last of these is the most wanting, though the fact that the film spends any time there whatsoever is already proof that Beginners is a tremendous stride in the right direction for Mills after his only preceding feature, the excruciating Thumbsucker from 2005.
In only his second feature-film assignment (following 2005's Thumbsucker), writer-director Mike Mills has fashioned a disarming, deeply felt and somewhat autobiographical piece in which an artist named Oliver (Ewan McGregor) recalls his recently deceased father Hal (Christopher Plummer), who announced he was gay at the age of 75, only to pass away from cancer four years later.
The screenplay is by Mark Steven Johnson—the fellow responsible for Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005).
Writer-director Mark Steven Johnson was also responsible for "Daredevil" (which looked better to me in 2003 than it does in hindsight and is reviled by other comic fans), and he wrote the soporific "Elektra."
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Plus, he’s unconvincing as a gay man, in that familiar, self-congratulatory, straining to appear fair-minded and unprejudiced way reminiscent of those unbelievable paragons Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas in Philadelphia.
By turns, “Beginners” suggests a new age “Jules and Jim” and a rejiggered “Annie Hall.”
Dying old Dad is cute, too, hosting a party for his new gay friends where they all watch The Times of Harvey Milk .
From there, things improve immeasurably: McGregor and Laurent have a wonderful rapport (their on-again, off-again relationship suggests Punch-Drunk Love minus the Adam Sandler psychosis).
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The results are an incredibly creative film that allows Mills to explore all of his artistic sides to create a film that has similar qualities as Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep," one of that auteur's more personal films.
McGregor, who is perhaps best known for "Trainspotting" and the "Star Wars" prequels, turns in a thoroughly enchanting performance that subtly traces Oliver's journey from doubt to desire.