The set up for Beginners, the sophomore film from writer-director Mike Mills (his first being Thumbsucker) sounds so unbelievably melodramatic (straight out of Douglas Sirk) that you can almost hear the cries of disbelief that he must have heard when trying to sell it.
“Picture this,” one imagines Mills pitching, “A 75-year-old father reveals to his straight son after his wife’s death that he’s gay and that he intends to embrace his new life. Then he gets terminal cancer.” However, the resulting movie—with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer as son and father and Melanie Laurent and Goran Visnjic as their respective lovers—couldn’t be any less melodramatic. Rather, it’s poignant and darkly funny all at once. Somber, winsome, silly, vibrant and delightfully inventive, Beginners is one hell of a rewarding movie. It only deepens the experience to discover that the material comes directly from Mills’ own life.
Retired museum curator Howard tells his illustrator son, Oliver, that he doesn’t just want to be “theoretically gay.” He wants the whole enchilada, and gets it quickly—the circle of gay comrades, a cute boyfriend (Visnjic, who audiences will remember most vividly from The Deep End), a bent for gay activism and, most decidedly, a previously missing lust for life. This all stupefies the cautious, commitment-phobic Oliver. (The two are like a gay/straight variation on Auntie Mame and nephew Patrick.) Then, after four years of embracing his new lifestyle comes the cancer diagnosis.
Mills sketches all this out, tongue firmly planted in cheek, within the first few minutes of the movie as McGregor narrates—with the aid of subtitles for Howard’s adorable terrier, who we quickly learn Oliver inherited after Howard’s death. Two parallel stories play out—Oliver’s last months with Howard and Oliver’s tentative romance with a gorgeous French woman (Laurent) he “meets cute” at a costume party a year after Howard’s death.
Slowly, as Oliver reflects on Howard’s life-affirming example at the end of his life he learns to act on it. (In one vivid remembrance, we see Howard awed by his father’s newfound abandon as he presides over one of his “movie nights” with his group of new, gay friends.) Between the father-son scenes and the goofy but true-to-life romance, Mills also interweaves a fascinating portrait of the relationship between the young Oliver and his archly funny mother (a relationship that will resonate with a lot of gay men) and also manages to get in a compelling, mini-history of gay discrimination. (At one point Oliver offers a client a series of drawings he calls “A History of Sadness” which includes a sketch entitled “first gay man diagnosed as mentally ill.”)
McGregor, who just keeps giving one gorgeously nuanced performance after another (following up on his winning work in I Love You Phillip Morris) is matched by Plummer, who gets a role (at last!) that allows him to show a complexity of emotions and a sweetness that his typical villain parts don’t even hint at. Laurent is bewitching and maddeningly elusive while Visnjic is strange and funny.
It’s a very gentle, bittersweet movie with a wintry feel—the sunlight feels as if its coming from a distant planet—while the dry humor is augmented by the retro tunes and a vintage-sounding, tinkling piano on the soundtrack. The whole things sounds “precious” and more than a tad cloying (don’t forget the adorable little dog) and touchy-feely but Mills’ true-to-life dialogue, assured directorial touch, insightful characters and these marvelous actors belie any hint of sentimentality or phoniness. Rather, Beginners is a powerful homage not only to one’s parents but to the power of community—the gay community, in this case.
Film notes:
—Yet another one of those filmed stage performances is coming to a movie theatre near you. The show in question this time is the classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest by the legendary gay playwright and bon vivant Oscar Wilde. The production is the recent revival at the Roundabout Theater, which, in the hands of out actor/director Brian Bedford (who also appears in drag as Lady Bracknell), took Broadway by storm. Broadway fans on a budget will be able to see the filmed version (in HD no less) June 9, 12, 14 and 26 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport. www.musicboxtheatre.com
—The Music Box is also the place for what promises to be another memorable evening at the movies for queer audiences. On Saturday, June 11, at 5:30 p.m. Robert K. Elder, author of The Film That Changed My Life, begins a film series based on his book. Elder and queer icon John Waters will introduce the 1939 fantasy masterpiece The Wizard of Oz, which hugely influenced the kitsch auteur. Waters and Elder will also discuss its powerful impact after the screening followed by a book-signing. (Both Elder’s book and Waters’ recent Role Models will be part of the autograph signing). However, there’s more: Later that same evening (at 10:30 p.m.) Waters will return to introduce his own Citizen Kane of camp, 1974’s Female Trouble, a movie that has no doubt inspired a few budding filmmakers itself. It’s separate admission for each film. www.musicboxtheatre.com
—Queer DVDs worth checking out: Undertow, the sexy Peruvian gay fantasy-romance (Ghost meets Brokeback Mountain) is out on DVD and is a must for the collection. Although writer-director Keith Hartman’s You Should Meet My Son! also debuts this week, it isn’t exactly in the same category but it has charm to spare and a sweetly comedic—and at times deeply felt—lead performance from Joanne McGee as a Southern conservative mom who quickly readjusts her expectations when she discovers that her little boy is That Way.
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