20th Century Woman

— If you missed this film [DVD] in theaters, see it another way. Annette Bening is absolutely wonderful as Dorothea, a chain-smoking, mid-fifties mother in late ‘70’s California with a teen-aged son, a strong will, a quick mind, and a life buffeted by social and personal changes all around her. She has a large old house where scaffolding is always in use and a few renters spice things up. Worried about her son she asks two women to help him, not sexually, but to develop into a decent man. She’s the 20th century woman, a combination of fear and desire, wanting to experience more, but raised with mid-century values. In fact, everyone seems to be unable to fully embrace past, present, or future. Throughout it all, a narrator reminds us that we’re watching something now past, and all the characters have moved on or died; The things they worried about are no longer so worrisome, but maybe the country and the culture 40 years or 100 years later worries about things just as important…or no more important. It’s kind of like looking at your home on Google Earth and then pulling out in space to see it from a distance. I think the tug and pull is felt by every generation, freeing the film from appealing only to seniors.

---

[2016, 119 min. Written and Directed by Mike Mills. Starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, and Lucas Jade Zumann.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/20th-century-women-2016