Australian Penthouse

Beginners

Director: Mike Mills
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Mary Page Keller
Hopscotch Films

THERE are often parallels in behaviour between children and parents that provide fertile ground for exploring in entertainment mediums such as cinema. This is exactly what writer/director Mike Mills has done with his upcoming film, Beginners. Having read the distributor-provided backstory of the film, it was interesting to discover that the events featured within closely resemble those that happened in Mills’ life with his father.

Beginners begins with Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor) in the throes of the sad task of choosing what to keep and remove of his father’s existence. A collection of books makes the ‘keep’ box, while handfuls of prescribed medication are flushed down the toilet. The chronology of the film constantly jumps around from the outset, showing the present-day Oliver trying to come to terms of what life means to him as a middle-aged orphan. To compound matters, he meets Anna (Mélanie Laurent) shortly after his father’s passing and, together, they quickly realise how similar they are with regard to the many failed relationships they’ve left in their respective wakes.

But Oliver’s chance party encounter with Anna dredges memories of his father and mother (Mary Page Keller) and the distance that existed in their relationship while Oliver was young and impressionable. Almost all of Oliver’s flashbacks about his mother are exclusively with her (father, Hal, is consistently absent) and it’s obvious that there’s something missing in their marriage .

Years later, when his wife dies, Hal makes the surprise announcement to Oliver and the world that he is, and has been for a long time, gay. Not content to explore the predicable tension that would ensue with a father coming out of the closet to his son, Mills chooses, instead, to highlight how even Oliver’s instantaneous acceptance of his father’s new lifestyle isn’t without consequence.

Hal begins to completely rebrand himself as he discovers what it means to be a 75-year-old man who’s only just come out of the closet after 45 years of heterosexual marriage. He changes his wardrobe, heads out to clubs, puts a very direct classified advertisement in the papers with hope of meeting men and finding a boyfriend (Goran Visnjic).

Oliver struggles to come to terms with the selfishness his father embodies in the last four years of his life, particularly when he starts to act more like a son to Oliver, who is more responsible. As may be expected from such a film, Beginners is a slow-paced human drama that bounces between some genuinely funny comedic moments and well thought out dramatic beats. Although clearly based on intensely personal subject matter, Mills keeps the film accessible, never allowing the storyline slip too far into subjectivity.

Sometimes draining, mostly when the world is seen through Oliver’s melancholy eyes, Beginners may not be a film that gels with every audience, but it does offer an interesting and unique take on the father/son relationship, bolstered by unsurprisingly solid performances from its two male leads. If you’re after a quirky and engaging family drama, Beginners is well worth discovering.

BEGINNERS is in cinemas August 25

Review: Nathan Lawrence

Related articles

• Film review: Incendies
• Reviews Reviews: Film – The Grey
• Reviews – DVD: The Hunter
• Reviews – Film: The Whistleblower
• Reviews – Film: Real Steel