{"id":244328,"date":"2011-06-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-14T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/film-review-beginners\/"},"modified":"2011-06-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-14T07:00:00","slug":"film-review-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/film-review-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Review: \u2018Beginners\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Film<\/a>
(left) Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor (right) star as father and son in \u2018Beginners.\u2019 (Courtesy Focus Films)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can\u2019t decide what it\u2019s about<\/p>\n

Por Scott Marcas |<\/strong> Cr\u00edtico de cine SDUN<\/p>\n

Mike Mills\u2019 first feature, \u201cThumbsucker\u201d (2005), is a double threat, an intelligent teen comedy along the lines of \u201cIgby Goes Down\u201d and \u201cEasy A.\u201d It\u2019s also the only anti-drug film since \u201cDrugstore Cowboy\u201d that has something, other than \u201cJust Say No,\u201d to say: You know the old adage that pot leads to harder drugs? Mills argues that thumb sucking leads to psychotropic drugs, which put you on the road to reefer.<\/p>\n

I had wondered from time to time what became of Mike Mills. After \u201cThumbsucker,\u201d the writer-director pretty much sat out the remainder of the decade. \u201cBeginners\u201d is his first theatrical release in six years.<\/p>\n

Hal (Christopher Plummer) lived only five of his 75 years as an out homosexual. After his wife of 45 years dies, Hal decides to kick open the closet door. He feels like a kid again, and that kid is a much younger boy toy named Andy (Goran Visnjic). Hal\u2019s real kid, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), discovers \u201cthis new dad\u201d after Hal passes away and Oliver finds a gay dating ad among his father\u2019s personal belongings.<\/p>\n

Told in flashback, \u201cBeginners\u201d never wallows in maudlin angst, but it could stand a little more \u201cI Never Sang for My Gay Father\u201d and a lot less \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Singing about My Jewish\/French Heterosexual Girlfriend.\u201d As Anna, M\u00e9lanie Laurent (\u201cInglorious Basterds\u201d) delivers a radiant performance, but her presence seems somewhat out of place in a film that can\u2019t decide whether it\u2019s about a son coming to terms with his dead dad\u2019s sexuality or a romantic comedy.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re supposed to believe that Oliver is applying everything he learned from dad to his relationship with Anna and subsequently things he learns from Anna help to ease his father\u2019s passing. Wanting to add drama where it isn\u2019t needed, Mills devises a pat reason to splinter the couple in order to bring about a happy reunion. They don\u2019t argue about living together, they bicker over whether or not they should move in together.<\/p>\n

The film occasionally buckles under the weight of its own adorableness. Oliver and Anna join hands and roller skate through hotel corridors and office buildings. Oliver\u2019s parents\u2019 relationship is condensed into a compact, well-assembled photo montage, a nice touch until Mills decides to hammer home the technique throughout the rest of the film. Even Arthur, Hal\u2019s Jack Russell terrier (an heirloom with a tail) can\u2019t help but eat a bowl of cute.<\/p>\n

Arthur is a Pantheon pooch, right up there with Bogart\u2019s pal Pard in \u201cHigh Sierra\u201d and Mr. Bascomb, Jerry Lewis\u2019 cartoonish Great Dane in \u201cHollywood or Bust.\u201d Did we really need so many subtitled reaction shots to give us access to the mutt\u2019s inner-thoughts?<\/p>\n

What will be remembered come awards season is Plummer\u2019s remarkable, highly appealing performance. With raging hormones to spare, the veteran actor zips across the screen like a besotted teenage boy eager to try out his new equipment. I need another romcom like I need a head in my hole. The last five years of Hal\u2019s life, and his relationship with his ethereal canine companion, would have made for a much more compelling two hours in the dark.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can\u2019t decide what it\u2019s about By Scott Marks | SDUN Film Critic Mike Mills\u2019 first feature, \u201cThumbsucker\u201d (2005), is a double threat, an intelligent teen comedy along the lines of \u201cIgby Goes Down\u201d and \u201cEasy A.\u201d It\u2019s also the only anti-drug film since \u201cDrugstore Cowboy\u201d that has something, other than \u201cJust Say No,\u201d to say: […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":244329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Film Review: \u2018Beginners\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}