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Beginners (2010)

Director:
Mike Mills
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Drama/Comedy
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Beginners
RUNNING TIME
104 minutes
Producer:
Leslie Urdang
Lars Knudsen
Dean Vanech
Jay Van Hoy
Miranda de Pencier
Screenwriter:
Mike Mills


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Oliver Ewan McGregor
Hal Christopher Plummer ˝
Anna Mélanie Laurent ˝
Andy Goran Visnjic ˝
Elliot Kai Lennox
Georgia Mary Page Keller
Young Oliver Keegan Boos

 

Review

I'm sure it could have been interesting to explore Christopher Plummer's character and his relationship with his son (played by Ewan McGregor), who is chosen as the focal point of this story, looking back at his genealogy and his relationship with his father. That is, had Beginners not been directed with such sloppiness by Mike Mills (2005's slightly better Thumbsucker). The film has an occasional clairvoyance, but most of the effect is wasted on a flat and cutified romance and Mills' self-inflicted indie prison. In the end, not much works the way it should with Beginners, and Plummer's promising character is never fulfilled or given the fertilizer to grow into a performance worthy of the Oscar he received for the part.

 

Copyright © 10.4.2012 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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