20th Century Women

2016's 20th Century Women, by Mike Mills.

Starring Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup, and Lucas Jade Zumann.

Through voice over, we meet Bening, who is a single mother to teenage Zumann, and a mother of sorts to young adult Gerwig as well, during the late 70's and early 80's. They all live almost commune style with Crudup, who plays a hippie maintenance man of the house. Zumann plays a surrogate of director Mills' true life experiences, and so he explores adolescence while surrounded by women. As Zumann drifts apart from his mother in his exploration, Bening enlists Fanning and Gerwig to help her raise Zumann. More than just an exploration of Zumann's growth, we learn about the entire household, with chunks of the changing political zeitgeist thrown in for good measure.

Mill's intentions were to create a tribute towards both his mother and sister, in a fictionalized environment of the times, but even more importantly, he creates a tapestry that celebrates nostalgia. Without it being obvious, the film is a memorial to memory, jumping back and forth in time to explain character's lives, and changing narrators at times. 

Here is a film that at times had me absolutely spellbound, not by the showiness of the performances, or the audacity of the director, or the provocative antics of the screenwriter, but by sheer emotions of these real, lived in characters. Inspirational, frustratingly inconsistent, caring, selfish, hilarious, naive, innocent, intelligent, foolhardy: it was impossible to not be moved by their lives. As well, the characters all contribute something greater than the sum of their parts, and the chemistry, not just between them, but in terms of how they all work together as a story, is flawless. The score by Roger Neill is absolutely perfect (my new fave score of 2016), and it accompanies Mill’s camera expertly.
Performance wise, Bening's character at times is so independent and free spirited, her cat won't snuggle around her for long. Watching her blow through boundaries and agonize over her child's well being, I think it might be Annette Benning's best performance, a kind of "The Kids Are All Right" on steroids, and devoid of the desperate histrionics of "American Beauty". Gerwig is awesome in her immediate flakiness as well, and I am excited about checking out the rest of her career, after great outings in "Mistress America" and "Jackie". Finally, Crudup continues to advance a theory of mine that he was born in the wrong decade, as his spirit animal seems to reside in the 1970's. His intelligent but sensitive vibes that he exhumed in "Almost Famous" invitingly return here.
Watching "20CW" a second time, I was free to focus on the emotions of the movie, which are so strong. Invigorating but heart breaking at times, Mills has created something here that is so elusive in it's understanding: the more you try to understand and rationalize, the less you'll get. Is there any better metaphor for 20th century women?

4/5

Trailer: Click Here.