Beginners

4.25
    Beginners
    2011

    Synopsis

    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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    Cast

    • Ewan McGregorOliver Fields
    • Christopher PlummerHal Fields
    • Mélanie LaurentAnna Wallace
    • Goran VisnjicAndy
    • Kai LennoxElliot
    • Mary Page KellerGeorgia Fields
    • Keegan BoosYoung Oliver
    • China ShaversShauna
    • Melissa TangLiz
    • Amanda PaytonParty Person

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Variety

      Rarely do you find such self-plunging material beyond the realm of documentary or far-fringe museum fare, and despite his background in that arena, Mills sheds all preciosity in service of genuinely revealing introspection.
    • 100

      Slant Magazine

      One of the most distinct pleasures of Beginners is the way it puts together fragments of someone's life-presumably the filmmaker's, although little does it matter-with humility, and without vying for some complete whole.
    • 100

      Boxoffice Magazine

      Sweet moments of subtle comedy and straightforward family drama mix perfectly with Mike Mills' trademark artfulness in Beginners.
    • 91

      Entertainment Weekly

      The movie darts, dreams, and sometimes seems to dance. The great Plummer, meanwhile, creates an inspiring, fully rounded man in late bloom, and McGregor responds with a performance to match.
    • 91

      IndieWire

      Mills fashions the set-up for an overwrought, thoroughly depressing character study into an oddly charming comedy. It's a midlife crisis gently portrayed with sympathy rather than grief.
    • 90

      The Hollywood Reporter

      All the movie's playfulness rubs off on the actors. Scenes crackle with life. The chemistry among all the actors is terrific.
    • 90

      New York Magazine (Vulture)

      Mike Mills's marvelously inventive romantic comedy Beginners is pickled in sadness, loss, and the belief that humans (especially when they mate) are stunted by their parents' buried secrets, their own genetic makeup, and our sometimes-sociopathic social norms.
    • 80

      Time Out

      A movie with an unflinchingly tough heart.

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