20th Century Women (Mike Mills)

[TGM]

20TH CENTURY WOMEN

Director: Mike Mills

imdb

[TGM]

Kinda surprised there wasn't a thread for this already. But yeah, I really ended up digging the hell out of this movie. Definitely worth checking out I'd say.

[dreamdead]

Finally got around to this one--to be honest, I agree with some of the reverseshot critiques that Bening is more tic-ridden and unknowable as a character than perhaps she should be, so that Gerwig's character somehow comes off as more complex (or at least understandable). And the lead is more cipher and stand-in than fully developed, one of the worst traits in this sort of coming-of-age drama.

That said, there's something fully formed about Mills's use of time-jumping in the final hour that is absolutely affecting. The way it projects forward from 1979 to showcase who these people become, how they interact with future historical or cultural shifts, is something that I think is truly fascinating for film to experiment with (which, if memory serves, he also did in Beginners), and so those strengths are what I expect to remember about this one. Also interesting to see a coming-of-age story that isn't predicated on the same coming of age being equated with the loss of virginity (though it ain't for lack of trying here).

[Pop Trash]

Best film of 2016. I wouldn't change a single frame.

[Grouchy]

I'm actually not sure if I liked this one or not. The Benning and Gerwig characters are pretty great, and there are plenty of solid emotional moments. It's a coming of age film that explores the circumstances of being a male who only has female role models around him. That's both an unusual theme for a film and a pretty common real life situation, so there's that.

I think while the pros vastly overwhelm the cons here, the pacing and the structure of the film were a bit of a chore to get through. It seems like it achieves some kind of dramatic peak every fifteen minutes only to go back to the same slice of life scenes.