20th Century Women Review

R:  Sexual Material, Language, Some Nudity and Brief Drug Use

A24, Annapurna Pictures

1 Hr and 58 Minutes

Cast: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, Billy Crudup, Alia Shawkat

REVIEW: With a number of films this year a lot has homaged the times of the past. Ouija: Origin of Evil homage the 60s, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some homaged the 80s, and Shane Black’s The Nice Guys homage the 70s. Now director Mike Mills (Beginners), has brought us back to 1979 with an original stylistic film that may be one of the best films of this year. 

In 1979 Santa Barbara, Calif., Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women -- Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor -- to help with Jamie's upbringing.

THE GOOD: Where you thought Shane Black's The Nice Guys was a love letter to the 70s, 20th Century Women is Mike Mills' visual encyclopedia guide to 1979. From the beginning, the life comes from the punk and soft rock music of the 70s. The film features a ton of psychedelic visuals that embraces the art in the 70s especially with fast edited movement and driving sequences with primary neon colors. There are so much photographic Polaroid shots that are also included in some narration of the film. The film is like a 70s culture exhibit in an art museum. It is played like an open storybook about these people in Jamie and his mother Dorothea's lives.

One of the best things about the film is its screenplay. It is in fact not only incredibly funny but is one of the year's funniest comedies I’ve seen this year possibly behind Deadpool and Don’t Think Twice. The movie embraces a lot of humor that works due to these interesting characters living under Dorothea’s roof. When the film focuses on a certain character for a brief amount of time, Mills builds up a comedic sequence that’s unexpected yet genuinely hysterical. It prospers from a lot of sexual humor. Not like humor that is raunchy with sexual situations or anything, but in fact sexual humor around the concept of sex. One of the best scenes in the film is when Jamie gets beaten up because his questioning about a female organ when another teenager flaunts about having sex with a girl which leads to one of the best punchlines in a comedy this year had to offer. It took me three minutes to recover from laughing. It's sexual curiosity is very similar to a number of old Woody Allen films most notably his 1977 film Annie Hall where most of the jokes weren't even about having sex but the concept of the female organs. 

The film features all around amazing performances. From the young to the old, the entire cast comes across extremely human than as characters. You can relate to Jamie or Dorothea based on your perception with growing up learning to be yourself or raising your kid and connecting with him. Anette Benning who was given around 10 minutes of screen time in Rules Don’t Apply finally is given to time to shine once again. You see her character Dorothea who is the landlord of this complex in Southern California trying to raise her son and take care of everyone who lives in her house. The film is narrated from Jamie and Dorothea as it gradually begins to document everybody’s life. What makes her performance work is the disconnect with her son played amazingly by newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann. He captures the essence of being a teenager growing up in this era and getting into the popular trends before digital media came or as Dorothea says in the film "before Reagan came." 

Though the film takes it time for you to get to know everyone with Billy Crudup being the last, you get to see how personalities clash with everyone having different perceptions of the world which it truly the heart of the film itself. Because of each story and how fleshed out each character is written, you’re thoroughly invested in these characters.

THE BAD: As much as I truly do love this movie and it’s writing it wraps itself up a bit too nice. It’s mainly because it is one of those films with characters you do want to see more of. It has the potential to have an open ended ending but it does wrap up with everybody’s biographical end which is good but personally, it was heartbreaking to see it end as a closed book.

THE RENDY: There is a doctor in a film that has a name tag that says R. Jones M.D. I got excited for two seconds and then kept my composure throughout. I was so close of pointing at the screen saying “HEY LOOK I’M A DOCTOR,” but I knew that would’ve been so immature.

I have a friend from high school who reminds me of Greta Gerwig's character Abbie. As a matter of fact Gerwig just reminds me of my friend. In the film she plays this news photographer who has a love for punk music as she teaches Jamie about her lifestyle. It was so surreal watching this because she 100% reminded me of my friend who is known to even speaking her mind about the most oddest thing that comes to it. This is completely unrelated to the review but I attended a Q&A of this film with the majority of the cast and the director and I asked a question to Mike about the writing process of the film. Before I said that I said "Annette, Greta good luck on Sunday"  which I was referring to their nominations for the Critics Choice Awards airing Sunday and Greta gave me a look that was the equivalent to "what?" I swear my friend does the same exact face that I had to keep my composure from laughing because it was like looking at a mirage of my friend. If my friend was born in the 80s, she would be Greta Gerwig no doubt about it. I would believe they would be best friends.

LAST STATEMENT: Heartwarmingly hysterical with a great screenplay and all round performances across the board makes Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women a well-written storybook guide to 1979.

Rating: 4/5 | 89%

Director Mike Mills and I

Super Scene: “Menstruation”