Beginners

Released:  June 3^rd, 2011

Rated:  R

Studio:  Focus Features

Starring:  Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic

Directed by:  Mike Mills

Written by:  Mike Mills

Personal Bias Alert:  both of my parents are alive, I’m a sucker for dogs

9.5 of 10

            I called my mom into the room when the Best Supporting Actor category came up at the 2012 Oscars.  She’s loved Christopher Plummer since she was a little girl and first laid eyes on him in The Sound of Music.  I knew that Plummer was about to win the Oscar, he was a shoe-in, and it was a pleasure to see her face light up as he took the stage.  She had never heard of Beginners, and I, having not seen the film, explained to her that he won for playing a gay man who came out after his wife died.  I wish now that I had seen the movie, because then I could’ve explained to her how much more his performance was than this simple little blurb and perhaps added to the moment.  Then again, this lament-tinged memory of my mother is a fitting accompaniment to a film filled with remembrances of misunderstood but loving parents.

            Plummer really does give quite a performance.  Vivacious, intelligent, and strong even in his dying days, Plummer’s Hal embraces this last chance to live another life and in doing so provides a meaningful last impression on his son.  You see, the film actually takes place a few months after Hal has passed on.  His presence in the film takes place entirely in the memories of his son, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), who seems stuck on trying to work out how his father’s revelation affected his parent’s marriage and his own handling of relationships.

            Writer/director Mike Mills, who based the story on his own father’s late coming out, seems to be trying to capture the very thoughts that run through a person’s head in a situation like this.  There’s an overarching fascination, in this case with the parent’s tepid and unimpassioned relationship, which gives rise to specific memories when reminders of little moments pop up in everyday life.  The memories are played out as real scenes, mostly between Oliver and his mother when he was just a boy and between Oliver and his father in the last months of Hal’s life.  The fascination is portrayed by non-narrative intercuts of the project Oliver is working on called The History of Sadness and some historical context for the time periods the movie covers.  This structure gives the film a decidedly quirky feel, but more importantly it tenderly captures Oliver’s emotions as he deals with the absence of his parents.

            In current time, Oliver is starting a relationship with an actress named Anna (Mélanie Laurent).  Both admit to not being very good at long-term relationships, which seems to only draw them closer.  Laurent is subtly complex in the way humans naturally are, and the chemistry between her and McGregor works.  A lot of the film’s weight falls on this relationship, and that added importance only made me root for them more.

            The other great performance and masterful piece of storytelling by Mills is the Jack Russell Terrier named Arthur that Oliver inherits from his father.  Played by a dog named Cosmo, he is Oliver’s constant companion and becomes rather anthropomorphic in his personification of Oliver’s mental state.  This touch is perhaps what made the film for me, because I have a mental block that protects me from getting too upset about a human character but leaves me unguarded against a dog.  Here, there’s a scene with Cosmo that had me welling up, and while it didn’t quite lead to a full cry, it’s still a remarkably rare achievement for a film.

            This is a quirky film, one that seems markedly longer than its 104 minute runtime, but it’s such a deliciously melancholic stew of love and loss that you’ll stay engrossed by it throughout.

            Other Notes:

Ø  The first film I loved in 2015.

Ø  The adopted owners of Cosmo also trained the Jack Russell from Fraiser.

Ø  I never figured out who Anna was supposed to be at the Halloween party.  I had to look it up and found out she was Julius Rosenberg.  Then I had to look up who Julius Rosenberg was.