vernon film society
Bringing the best in world and Canadian film to film lovers of Vernon and the North Okanagan
BEGINNERS
Monday, August 15
Director: Mike Mills
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic
Run Time: 104 minutes
Country: USA
Year: 2011
Language: English
Rating: PG (Coarse language)
An audience favourite at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival®, Beginners is a moving and often times hilarious portrait of family, love, loss, and self-discovery. After the critical success of his first feature, Thumbsucker, director Mike Mills returns at the top of his game, crafting a dynamic and emotional mood piece that balances humour, sorrow, and romance with aplomb.
Deftly juggling two chronologies to tell the heart-warming story of two major turning points in the life of Oliver (Ewan McGregor, The Ghost Writer), Beginners follows the slow-burning deterioration of Oliver's father (Christopher Plummer, The Last Station) who is dying of cancer.
His father's impending death, however, is not the only news that has caught Oliver off guard; at the age of seventy-five his widowed father has also come out of the closet. Just like that, he gets a new wardrobe, a new boyfriend and an entirely new outlook on life.
The other timeline takes place following his father's death, when a bereaved Oliver becomes somewhat of a shut-in while trying to be in a relationship with a young actress (Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds). The twin narratives gradually reveal subtle associations about how Oliver reacts to these unpredictable relationships, and how his father and girlfriend motivate him to surpass his self-prescribed limitations.
With outstanding performances in each of the three leading roles, Beginners is a thoroughly enjoyable character study about people opening up and discovering themselves despite age, preconceptions and illness.
"A buoyant and disarming drama about sons and fathers, death and dying, living and loving and all the ways we find ourselves starting over, hoping to finally get it right." - Los Angeles Times
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/movie/beginners/critic-reviews
Official site/Trailers: www.focusfeatures.com/beginners/
