Day 198 - Twentieth Century Women

Day 198         Twentieth Century Women [2016]

                          

Screenplay                     Mike Mills

Director                          Mike Mills

Cinematography             Sean Porter

Music                             Roger Neill

Leads                             Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, Billy Crudup

Production                      Annapurna Pictures, Archer Gray, Modern People

IMDb                                 7.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes                88%

Twentieth Century Women is a film described in most summaries I've read as ‘the story of a teenage boy’, but really it is a film about the women who surround him, and at least the title subtly references that… The protagonist in my eyes is Dorothea Fields (Bening), a 55-year-old divorcee who lets out rooms in her shabby, yet beautiful home. She is a hippy at heart and struggles to raise her young son Jamie (Zumann), so enlists the help of one of her lodgers, Abbie (Gerwig), a staunch feminist and photographer in her twenties, and her son’s friend, Julie (Fanning), a rebellious teenager. Jamie lacks a male role model, as Dorothea’s other lodger, William (Crudup), is also a hippy and spends more time with his tools than with people.

I thought the cast were brilliant, Bening gave a commanding performance, but for me it was Fanning who stole the spotlight. Her treatment of Jamie infuriated me, as one of not-so-platonic love, and my favourite moment of the film was when Abbie gets drunk and tells Jamie exactly what we’d all been thinking. Fanning radiates convincing adolescent anxiety and possesses talent far beyond her years. A child star who will continue to shine for years to come. Abbie initiated the other best moment of the film – an open discussion about menstruation combined with a celebratory dinner party – as well as my favourite quote of the film – “who are your heroes? Privileged drug addicts?”. Throughout the film I couldn’t help but notice how similar Bening and Gerwig are, you can tell they both grew up in California with that drawling laid-back accent.

The movie is a nostalgia trip. With its rainbow haze and the intermittent stock images and footage cut in. It made me want to be Jamie or Julie, roaming around Santa Barbara in the seventies. The nostalgia is induced by one of the stronger themes of the film, the melancholy of growing old and growing up. Whether this be Jamie and Julie’s growing pains in dealing with teenage angst and moving through adolescence, Abbie’s transition into adulthood and the problems of having to find out who you are and what you want to do with your life, or finally Dorothea lamenting on her youth and on the disconnection between her and her son. It’s a film about lost and alienated souls, about awkwardness, and most of all about the search for meaning in one’s own life. It’ll make you look back upon old friendships and look forward to new beginnings. Mike Mills can be proud of his best work to date.

Acting                              4 / 4

Writing                          3.5 / 4

Cinematography            3.5 / 4

Music                               3 / 4

HWF rating               3.5 / 4