Beginners, 2010

Beginners, 2010
Director: Mike Mills
Cast: Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Višnjić


Stage: Home theatre


Beginners in short: It's 2003. Thirty-eight year old graphic artist Oliver Fields has just lost his father Hal Fields to cancer, after Oliver's mother Georgia Fields passed away five years earlier. Oliver is naturally a sullen man due to his growing up relationship with his parents (his mother who had a unique view on life) and watching his parents' cordial but somewhat distant relationship with each other, but is more so now because of his personal family loss. Oliver embarks on a relationship with Anna, a French actress. Oliver is hoping that his re-energized relationship with Hal following Georgia's death and Hal's new outlook on life during that time will show Oliver how to act in a loving relationship. After Georgia's death, Hal came out of the closet and began to live with a joie de vivre that did not exist before, which included an open relationship with a much younger man named Andy


Preps: Again, a hot one in the oven. The oscar for best supporting actor went to Plummer and this part is one of the most amazing ones, the critics say. Let's dig and digest it :)


Reality: Beginners starts off with the remorsement of a younger man, who takes a few months/years to recover from his father's death. Least this is what you think at the beginning. It turns out that the remorsement is mostly because he doubts having lived in a lie or not his whole life. Admitting that he is gay, his father takes a strange curve in his life and makes virtually the most of it. Goran Višnjić in the role of his later partner, takes him to the gay path he always wanted to live through.

The irony is in the fact that the young boy didn't suffer nearly as much as he is suffering now, melting down like ice and discovering all the dark secrets he didn't understand as he was young. They reveal in the most powerful way. You are jumping in the future and back, to the past and in the present. The present or future is filled with expectations and making good out of sadness. Caressing your soul with the new prosperous relationship this guy just rejects before it really started. It can hurt your soul to see so much suffering from one person, and the only person to blame, is himself. You learn to appreciate all the things he has done for his father in his last years, all the awakenings he has done in hospital, reading, taking care of him, making him comfortable.

A sad piece that will hurt your soul and heart, but really important to understand. People, who have suffered the loss of a parent in a bad way, like this one, will personalize the most. It is vital that we try to understand deep feelings the son has for a father in this movie, because they hold the key to thumbs up (you will adore the movie) or down (you will hate it). I don't see a middle path. This is no ordinary piece and no average script. You will be its closest friend or an enemy.


My personal rating: 8,0 (great strong piece. Involves deep thinking on grasping every chance you get to digest life, grab it by its balls and have fun while you still have time and you can do it.)


Beginners on IMDB