Sunday, September 9, 2012

Beginners (R) 8.0

Beginners (2010): A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover. (7.2)

Director: Mike Mills
Writer: Mike Mills
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent

The elderly father coming out in his 70s is the headline-grabber in here; but the story is actually the young man's attempts at maintaining relationships--all kinds, being friends, girlfriends, father-son, and so-on. The movie uses the flashbacks and the dog-who first belonged to the father-quite effectively. The dialog is quite funny at times and very poignant at other times. I can relate very well to his tendency for pushing away all the people around him. The story has quite a lot of relationship points, some just in passing but they all matter; a whole lot. The casting is perfect. The acting--that of three main characters--is to the point without being overly emotional. I didn't expect this movie to matter all that much in the thinking department but it turned out to be a wonderful surprise. My Rating: 8.0

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