Review of Beginners (2011) by Compi24 — 09 Mar 2019

Writer/director Mike Mills' touching, semi-autobiographical tribute to his and his father's own struggles -- "Beginners" -- represents a very strange installment in the pantheon of American independent cinema.

It's a film with an incredibly specific worldview that admittedly had me by the proverbial throat in its first half-hour. The quirkiness, the sardonicism, the stylistic flourishes here and there -- all of it really grabbed me on an intellectual level.

But, as for the second act. . .I don't really know what to say beyond, "nothing really happens that I cared about." "Beginners" never really strays away from the promises set up by its first act, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that the idiosyncrasies were wearing thin throughout the middle.

What's this movie really about? What's it trying to say? Specifically? It's the kind of movie that acts as a testament to the fact that life doesn't contain specific messages on love, life, or how to live it.

But I can't separate the subjective irritation I receive upon facing movies like this. Still though, the performances are great and the sentiment in the final act is undeniably authentic. You really feel as though there's an actual person behind this film.

It's just that the voice is nowhere near as consistent enough.