Beginners
Watching director Mike Mills’ new film “Beginners” is like randomly flipping through the pages of a stranger’s family album. You can start in the middle, go back a few years then jump to the end and somehow get a sense of the people whose lives fill the images. The only difference is the pictures in the album usually only show you the good times spent while “Beginners” shares many of the down moments, flaws and all
Using a structure that, most recently, could be compared to “500 Days of Summer,” the narrative slips and glides through time to paint us a picture illustrating the life of a sad man named Oliver (Ewan McGregor). It is the 1970s and we are shown Oliver as a boy, alone with his melancholy mother (Mary Page Keller) mixed with footage of Oliver dealing with his father, Hal’s (Christopher Plummer) death in 2003. Then we skip a few months and see Oliver meet a most perfect woman named Anna (Melanie Laurent) who is just as broken as he is and experience their budding romance inter cut with Hal professing his homosexuality to his stunned son a few years prior.
While this device might have come off as confounding, director Mills tells the story organically and never does the shifting of time feel forced or gimmicky. We feel as though we are walking along side of Oliver and piecing together the world right along with him.
“Beginners” is an actor’s showcase. McGregor is natural and endearing as our lead and plays the struggles and turmoil that make up Oliver’s existence perfectly. I didn’t feel sorry for him, which could be expected, but I was pulling for him instead, wanting him to find his way. Laurent is wonderful here and gives us another fine performance to match her work in “Inglorious Basterds”. We’ve had very little exposure to her here in the States but let’s hope she finds success here much like her French counterpart Marion Cotillard. Mr. Plummer is incredible as Hal and meets every one of the role’s challenges. His story is heartbreaking and Plummer gives him a dignity that is admirable and touching.
I wrote down the word “effortless” in my notes right next to some unintelligible scribblings (you try writing in the dark. It’s hard. I tried using a light pen for a while but a swift and anonymous punch to the back of the head made me think better of it. Now I’m reduced to a steno notepad filled with nearly unusable chicken scratch.) and that is easily the one word I would use to describe “Beginners”. There are plenty of ideas to chew on and a simple beauty about the way the ideas are told. Considering we are in the midst of the Summer of Sequels, I hope the film isn’t lost and forgotten. It is 2011 and this is how movies should look.