Beginners 2011

Beginners. 2011.

This film only comes alive when Christopher Plummer is on screen and for my money this is not long enough. Plummer who gives an elegant and moving performance (the kind of role that wins Oscars) plays the father of Ewan McGregor who finally comes to grips with being gay at the age of 75 and begins to live his life as he always wanted to. Never mind he was married to McGregor’s mother for 44 years, and existed in a very deep and dark closet, but now he’s out with a vengeance. The writer director Mike Mills based the film on his own life and his relationship with his father, but unfortunately instead of focusing on Plummer, he throws in his deadly dull affair with a somewhat broken young and pretty (but vapid) French woman played by Mélanie Laurent whose accent is as thick as an old piece of fromage. Once more a current film has a cute dog running around in it, but the really wonderful moments are the ones that show Plummer with his new gay friends and his lover who is much younger than he is. I don’t doubt that Mills is a sincere person, who really wanted to tell his unusual story, but unfortunately only half of his story is vibrant and compelling. A big disappointment.