20th Century Women

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For a memoirist, Mr. Mills is uncommonly generous. Abbie, Julie and William, who sexily floats around the periphery (Mr. Crudup is superb at not quite stealing his scenes), are so persuasively detailed that all three could spin off into a separate movie; each has both sting and tenderness nearing grace. Yet these three and even Jamie pale next to Dorothea, who’s satisfyingly complex, especially for a movie mother. Dorothea is at once laid back and uptight, which Ms. Bening conveys with moments of shambling, gestural looseness and sudden emotional spikiness. She floods the screen with warmth, threatens to burn the joint down and, with Mr. Mills, turns contradictions into character.

Definitely nuanced and generous.  The film makes clear that when there is care, love and consideration — those things that come with real community — politics are possible.  Though personal, the film is also a testament to the shift that took place as the Reagan wave took hold.  The foul consequences are predicted in a desperate and well-meaning TV speech by Jimmy Carter, the denial of which further threw the public into the faux optimism of the new regime.

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  1. So I watched this film and laughed out loud at so many moments. However, like so many events in my life this viewing was framed by a misunderstanding. I mistook Mike Mills the writer/director for the now 83-year-old Mike Nichols. I kept watching in amazement at what a treasure this man was. How could he still have such insights. Okay, so Mike Mills may not have the pedigree of Mr. Nichols but it’s still an impressive piece of writing. I was thinking of using this film in my film theory class. The thing is, it’s not such a cinematic feat as an anthropological one. Maybe that’s the film theory angle then: Film as Anthropology.

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