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Movie Review: “20th Century Women” Is Like A Lo-Fi Dream: Nostalgic With A Sharp Undercurrent

[yasr_overall_rating]
 

The story of three women who explore love and freedom in Southern California during the late 1970s.

While I have not had the pleasure of seeing director Mike Mills’ “Beginners,” I did have the pleasure of seeing “20th Century Women,” and reveled in every moment. It is charming, and a tad quaint, without being too far out there. There’s something very comforting about seeing familiar images, hearing familiar sounds and stories over and over again; they are completely contained within time and totally beyond it at the same time and it’s just rad. Some people need explosions and spies to be entertained, but give me Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, a close examination of complex lives and relationships, and top it off with a killer soundtrack any day of the week and I’ll be totally consumed.

“20th Century Women,” is set in 1979 Santa Barbara, California, and focuses on Dorothea (Annette Bening), her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), and two unique young women, Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Julie (Elle Fanning), trying to find their own. Dorothea, a single mother who is losing grasp on her teenage son, calls on Julie and Greta to “raise” him, influence him, help him become a man in a world that has become foreign to Dorothea. This newfound method of raising occurs after an incident similar to today’s “choking game” puts Jamie in the hospital. Jamie is like a lost wolf pup, taken in by endangered felines. He’s privy to their thoughts, moods, and interpretations of the world.

His mother watches him from afar, and he watches her the same. For Jamie, Dorothea is like an ancient artifact. He studies her and is even so bold to say that she is oppressed (knowledge he assumes he’s gained from classic feminist works provided by Abbie). Dorothea aptly puts him in his place, but there’s a lingering melancholy. As it is with her son, Dorothea is a mystery to us all; part known and unknown. She’s touched with a quality that’s just on the tip of your tongue but you can’t quite form it in its entirety. Annette Bening brings out the genius in Dorothea. I don’t think there could be anyone quite as capable as she.

Gerwig and Fanning also fill their roles swimmingly. Some may accuse them of simply playing “themselves” with a veneer of character, but nonetheless they are effective. Gerwig is catchingly awkward as a punk-loving artist armed with feminist literature, and she certainly knows how to clear a room. Fanning is that ethereal cool girl, the girl you never really know if she’s real or just a figment. She is the closest friend to Jamie, whom she has put in the eternal friend zone, despite desperate attempts on both ends to dissolve it. Everyone gets somewhere, and everyone has an end on this “lo-fi” journey filled with long drives, skateboarding, Talking Heads, Black Flag, and Billy Crudup as a throwback ex-commune hippie who’s just as much a loveable weirdo as the rest of this hodge-podge group.

Some people may not see the point of a film like “20th Century Women.” They may view it as just another film about people living life but doing nothing in particular. To look into the lives of others, the complexity of “regular” lives, isn’t enough from some. For me, it’s the only thing I desire to do and I look forward to seeing what else Mike Mills will bring forth in the future.

Opens in Dallas at the Angelika Film Center Friday, January 13th

 

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