Review of Beginners (2011) by Todd R — 04 Dec 2014
"Beginners" is, first and foremost, a very sweet and melancholic love story. Pure and simple, old-fashioned storytelling that's been given a facelift, this is a complete charm to watch.
Oliver is an emotionally conflicted man. An artist commissioned to create album covers, Oliver is uninterested in relationships, and seemingly uninterested and dispirited in them. Adding to the grief is the death of his father, who'd came out as homosexual only a few years prior to his death. But then Oliver meets a charming actress named Anna, who completely changes his life and brings new hope and humour to his stagnating existence.
The film revolves around 3 major characters - Oliver, Hal and Anna - and all are played beautifully by Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Melanie Laurent respectively. The chemistry amongst McGregor and his two co-stars is very solid and the charisma of all three is charming enough.
It's very melancholic and never terribly funny, but it doesn't have to be. It's the Indie movement meeting French filmmaking sensibilities, and it's a brilliant mixing of angles to create a more than watchable movie.
8/10.
This review of Beginners (2011) was written by Todd R on 04 Dec 2014.
Beginners has generally received very positive reviews.
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