You're never too old to change. That's the message of "Beginners," a muted indie drama about two men - a father and a son - who alter the course of their lives in unexpected and dramatic ways.
For Hal (Christopher Plummer), that change is particularly stunning, since he has lived the first seven decades of his life as a closeted gay man, husband to a woman (Mary Page Keller) who believed she could "change" him and father to a son who bewilderingly stood witness to what he thought was nothing more than a loveless marriage. Only after his wife's death is Hal able to reveal the truth about himself to the world and to his son, and, in his 70s, he makes his long-delayed entrance into the "gay scene," even going so far as to procure a young immigrant boyfriend (Goran Visnjic) for himself. Unfortunately for Hal, the experience turns out to be a short-lived one, for, as the movie opens, we discover that Hal has recently died of cancer, and Oliver, who narrates the story, is still trying to cope with his perplexity and grief.
The real focus of the movie is on Oliver (Ewan McGregor) , who, like many men of his generation, finds it impossible to form lasting ties with the women he meets. Does this fear of commitment arise from having observed the unfulfilling relationship, the wasted lives of his own parents? Possibly. But Oliver may be running out of excuses, for he now has in his father a new role model to follow, that of a man who, after a lifetime of dishonesty and compromise, chose to grab at his one chance of happiness, to shake off the dust of an ossified existence and make his life count for something at the end. The good news for Oliver is that he has the opportunity to make that same resolution at a much earlier stage in his life, a possibility that becomes all the clearer when he falls for an alluring French actress (Melanie Laurent) who would like to start a serious romance with this troubled fellow.
Writer/director Mike Mills, who based the story on his own father, weaves a complex series of flashbacks to relate his story, never violating the hushed, respectful tone of the piece with big dramatic confrontations or corny melodramatics. - though he isn't averse to finding the humorous and playful side of life either, even in its darkest moments. For the most part, though, he simply shows us brief moments in these characters' lives, captured for posterity by the eye of the camera, poignant in the sense of sadness, loss, redemption, fulfillment and hope they convey.
Plummer and McGregor are, of course, flawless in their performances, but special note should be taken of Cosmo ("Hotel for Dogs"), the most scene-stealing pooch since Uggie in "The Artist."
For Hal (Christopher Plummer), that change is particularly stunning, since he has lived the first seven decades of his life as a closeted gay man, husband to a woman (Mary Page Keller) who believed she could "change" him and father to a son who bewilderingly stood witness to what he thought was nothing more than a loveless marriage. Only after his wife's death is Hal able to reveal the truth about himself to the world and to his son, and, in his 70s, he makes his long-delayed entrance into the "gay scene," even going so far as to procure a young immigrant boyfriend (Goran Visnjic) for himself. Unfortunately for Hal, the experience turns out to be a short-lived one, for, as the movie opens, we discover that Hal has recently died of cancer, and Oliver, who narrates the story, is still trying to cope with his perplexity and grief.
The real focus of the movie is on Oliver (Ewan McGregor) , who, like many men of his generation, finds it impossible to form lasting ties with the women he meets. Does this fear of commitment arise from having observed the unfulfilling relationship, the wasted lives of his own parents? Possibly. But Oliver may be running out of excuses, for he now has in his father a new role model to follow, that of a man who, after a lifetime of dishonesty and compromise, chose to grab at his one chance of happiness, to shake off the dust of an ossified existence and make his life count for something at the end. The good news for Oliver is that he has the opportunity to make that same resolution at a much earlier stage in his life, a possibility that becomes all the clearer when he falls for an alluring French actress (Melanie Laurent) who would like to start a serious romance with this troubled fellow.
Writer/director Mike Mills, who based the story on his own father, weaves a complex series of flashbacks to relate his story, never violating the hushed, respectful tone of the piece with big dramatic confrontations or corny melodramatics. - though he isn't averse to finding the humorous and playful side of life either, even in its darkest moments. For the most part, though, he simply shows us brief moments in these characters' lives, captured for posterity by the eye of the camera, poignant in the sense of sadness, loss, redemption, fulfillment and hope they convey.
Plummer and McGregor are, of course, flawless in their performances, but special note should be taken of Cosmo ("Hotel for Dogs"), the most scene-stealing pooch since Uggie in "The Artist."