Annette Bening is a magnificent actor. All the actors in this were very good. Personally, I didn't like the film too much. Seemed like it was trying to be more realistic than it was.

I loved it! Very lovely movie

Deep meaningful and beautiful movie. Well done

i love the shots in this film and the vast spectrum of perspectives shown in each character <3 [[ jan302024 ]]

Very engaging, often candid, extremely memorable characters and performances. Becomes deeper as you think back on it.

Mills has refined his style and writing here, crafting a unique character study that deliberately avoids simplistic resolutions. One of the few period films set in the 70s that never gets overpowered by cliched aesthetics.

The film is good except for the characters, setting, dialogue and the story... oh and the acting too. Shame really, I quite like Elle fanning.

Missing something called a plot or story line. That can work in some ways where the characters become central but the characters in this were of little interest and their story lines or, rather character lines, seemed random more than anything else.

A loving tribute to an odd single mother and the lives that shaped Mike Mills' childhood. Director Mike Mills' indie drama 20th Century Women (2016) is an artful scattershot of memories of these really unique people from Mills' teenage years. He gives each person a sympathetic backstory and their eventual outcomes, but it's the smaller dialogue and intimate conversations that make his filmmaking feel so raw and tender. I adore Beginners and C'mon C'mon, so 20th Century Women feels similarly earnest and honest. Mills' direction feels almost like dream sequences with how he'll cut to other moments in time. I appreciate his feminist perspective and how that shaped his view of women, largely from the influence of his freewheeling mother, an artistic photographer, and his girl best friend from childhood being so close to him during his teenage years. Writer Mike Mills is completely honest and open with talking about awkward subjects, attempting to normalize sex talk, menstruation, periods, pregnancy tests, miscarriages, depression, boredom, frustration, single parenting, growing up, desperation, and love with equal care. His jokes are super funny and he finds the shocking trauma of bad sex very sympathetic or the humor in Black Flag fans beating up a Talking Heads lover. I love that he clearly cares that the audience will relate to every woman and man in 20th Century Women, so that you really feel their perspective. He's respectful and understanding and perhaps that's all you can ask a writer of films to be now. Casting directors Laura Rosenthal and Mark Bennett found great talent for this dramatic ensemble. I empathize with each of them. Annette Bening is fiercely individualistic and yet also needs the strength of others as Jamie's mother Dorothea Fields. She's a career woman, single mother, and lover of Humphrey Bogart all in one. I like how she reaches out to the other girls, but cannot abide by their open sex talk, it's so funny. Bening is very elusive and yet relatable at once. Elle Fanning is lovely, sweet, playful, forlorn, tragic, and sympathetic as Jamie's best friend Julie Hamlin. You know he loves her terribly, but that she merely wants a guy friend to talk to openly and hang out with even if that's selfish or hurts him. It's interesting and very realistic how there's a fine line for guys and girls that want to be or remain friends, but one person may feel more strongly. Mills finds that place and lets these characters soak in that awkward place. Greta Gerwig is hilarious as the redhead punk photographer Abbie Porter. She's also tragically heartbreaking that she suffers from cancer and may not have kids. Gerwig finds all the joys in life and dances to them, while also pointing out the strangest lucid thoughts with a fun offbeat delivery. Billy Crudup is interesting and amiable as the happy go lucky hippie car mechanic William. He wants to fool around with Greta Gerwig, but may love Annette Bening. He's odd, yet steadfast and reassuring. It's a nice performance. Lucas Jade Zumann is very odd as Jamie Fields in that he's totally normal and well adjusted, but everyone acts like he's the problem child. He likes Talking Heads more than Black Flag and wants to understand his mother and go out with his crush. He's fairly normal. Alia Shawkat is cute as Abbie's friend Trish. Editor Leslie Jones will do slick montages of past photos and videos or simply cut way into the future of these characters with ease. The fluid movement keeps 20th Century Women light and engaging. Cinematographer Sean Porter uses all these pretty wide shots of beaches and forests with characters centered in frame as they wander through life. The stylish close-ups and medium shots during conversations are gripping. It's a beautiful film. Production designer Chris Jones makes 70's homes and cars with quaint and cozy set decoration from Aimee Athnos and Neil Wyzanowski. Composer Roger Neill's gentle film score is pretty, but the musical star of 20th Century Women is all the 1970's hardcore punk bands like Black Flag or artsy synth pop stylings of The Talking Heads. Sound designers Frank Gaeta, Rick Ash, Guy Francoeur, and Jo Caron let you clearly hear each whisper or burst of musical expression. Costume designers Jennifer Johnson and Claudia Sarbu make every guy look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo or like they're in Black Flag. All the women have these cute button down blouses. Makeup artists Erin Ayanian and Jorjee Douglass do very pretty eye shadow. I love the look for Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig. Hairstylists Shandra Page and Vanessa Price give Elle long flowing blonde tresses and Greta this short red punk hair that's delightful. In all, 20th Century Women is 119 minutes of people trying to relate to one another and it's beautiful.

"20th Century Women" is a film that is made with a lot of love. There is a focus on the characters and their conflicts that make it a special experience. I like the style of the storytelling and also think the writing and acting are top-notch. This sort of dialogue-heavy slow-paced drama doesn't draw me in that easily, but I did really like this one. I felt empathy and a genuine connection to the characters and wanted to learn as much as I could about them in the two-hour run time. Overall, this is a very good drama film with wonderful performances that I felt connected to by the time it ended and was genuinely sad to say goodbye to when the credits were rolling.

Really great performances, but it just didn't hit for me.

An aesthetically delightful, beautifully cast and mesmerisingly scored picture that floats above tedium level through most of its duration, the cinematic equivalent of coitus interruptus. At times it is hard to tell whether it is celebrating the 20th century Western female journey or suggesting that the conflicts and tensions that arose around the 1970s socio-political movements represent a net loss for both sexes. That, I guess, is also its strength, though there's a lot of bodily functions and descriptions of bodily functions to tolerate along the way. A tale with depth, that much is clear, and told with humour, but perhaps a little too fond of its gynocentrism to satisfy the widest audience.

It's a shame that director Mike Mills isn't more prolific. Mills reappears out of nowhere every few years with a quiet and contemplative film that plunges into the depths of the human heart, from Thumbsucker in 2005 to C'mon C'mon in 2021. 20th Century Women is consistent with other entries in his oeuvre, a film filled with quiet insights, consistently interesting characters, and enough subtle quirkiness to keep things interesting. Dorothea (Annette Bening) is an alpha mom, trying to raise her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zuman) without the assistance of Jamie's father, who abandoned the family years earlier. It's got a great supporting cast (Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup), a smart script, and the intelligent decision to keep things relatable from both the parent's perspective as well as the child's.

if it is not perfect film, what else. Everything is comfortable and choosing color(ex. faniture, cars) is perfect. Elle!!!

This is very much a quirky and somewhat arty type of a film, with slightly spooky electronic sounding music played in the background of some scenes. Its a film about rebelling teenagers in a time of cultural unease, about coming of age and how parents can struggle to fully connect to their adolescent offspring. It also depicts social awkwardness, which is something I can personally relate to. This film is relatively pop culture focussed at times and it has a feminist angle as well, I suppose. I liked Greta Gerwigs character, Abbie Porter, someone who is going through quite a lot at the time the film is set in, due to her personal circumstances. I liked the narration provided by Annette Bening - she certainly sounds quite knowledgeable and happy to think back to certain things in her life, as she does. I also liked that at times photos are shown in black and white, giving an extra sense of nostalgia and longevity to the memories being discussed. Overall I quite enjoyed this film and I would recommend it to others, although there are a few relatively strong sex references, which may put some people off I suppose - that aside, I'd recommend it.

Annette Benning's Dorothea is a single Mother trying to do the best for her teenage son Jamie, by enlisting help from Abbie (an excellent Greta Gerwig) and Jamie's best friend Julie (a great performance from Elle Fanning). I couldn't help but think Benning's Dorothea could almost be an older version of Carolyn, from 1999's American Beauty, albeit without the neurotic narcissism. Despite the obvious differences between the characters, I couldn't shake that feeling, and that's not a criticism in any way. 20th Century Women is a tremendous coming of age film, as well as being a focus on Dorothea raising her son. The cameos from people like Billy Crudup and Alia Shawkat are relevant and engaging; Shawkat is especially prescient because there are similarities with her starring role in Animals (2018). Mike Mills (who directed 2021's C'mon C'mon) nails down a challenging genre to successfully navigate, nodding to such films as Shithouse (2020) as well as reminding me of Call Me By Your Name (2017). Drawing you into both Jamie and Dorothea's lives as grippingly as it does is no mean feat, and reminds you once again, (as if you didn't know) that Annette Benning is simply fantastic in every respect.

fantastic acting with a brilliant little story. Thank you A24

Lo que en un principio puede llegar a parecer una especie de drama adolescente rápidamente se convierte en una historia sobre amor, compresión, aceptación, superación y entendimiento entre personas de distintas generaciones que viven a diferentes ritmos.

I absolutely loved the acting, dialogue, editing, score, cinematography, characters and especially the emotions, both explored and created. After a resounding 3 for 3 with Mills, I am now left pretty disappointed his filmography isn't larger. 8.5/10

This was fantastic. It doesn't have a traditional plot structure and I liked that. Instead, it's just filled with so many heartwarming moments as this teen boy is raised by the strong yet wildly different women around him. Bening, Fanning, and especially Gerwig are incredible here in a film that reminds me that women > men.