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BEGINNERS, A TRULY ARTISTIC MOVIE BY MIKE MILLS
29 April 2011
Catégorie : NEWS
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Due to be released in Paris in June 2011, Mike Mills' movie "Beginners" is a rare gem bringing some new fresh air in the world of U.S films.
Mirroring some aspects of American life during the past 50 years, this autobiographical movie has little in common with U.S comedies usually starring such artists as Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney or Owen Wilson among others.
On top of that, Mike Mills who is an accomplished artist designing videos and covers for records or drawing people's portraits seems to have the kind of intellectual touch that U.S film makers such as Quentin Tarantino, the Farrelli brothers or Steven Spielberg are far from exhaling.
Though bearing the influence of Woody Allen, François Truffaut and other European directors, "Beginners" has a true personal flavour perhaps because this movie is essentially based on Mills' uncommon life. Unlike Woody Allen whose characters are most of th time intellectual New Yorkers somewhat unsatisfied with their lives, Mills tends to be more introspective in showing people trying to find a meaning to their existence.
As mills puts it, in many ways this film is a continuation of conversations between Oliver, a straight son (Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor) and his recently out gay dad (Christopher Plummer) about their relationships. "He wanted me to finally stay with someone, and he and I would talk and argue and finally get past the niceties that kept things between us sweet yet flat for so long. I learned a whole lot more about love, vulnerability, commitment, sex, and the confusion that is relationships from my gay dad than I did when he was my straight dad", he said
Mills' parents were married in 1955, even though his half Jewish mother knew his dad was gay, at a church in San Francisco, just blocks away from the apartment where Allen Ginsberg was simultaneously writing his poem "Howl".
"Beginners" is thus a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. It explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver and Anna, an unpredictable French Jewess (Mélanie Laurent of "Inglourious Basterds") only months after his father Hal has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who – following 44 years of marriage – came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life. The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, finally bring father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be. Then, Oliver endeavours to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him though he fears that he won't be able to offer her what she deeply wants.
"Beginners" is really apart in the world of U.S movies especially as it casts a sensitive light on the gay community which led a longstanding struggle to defend its rights. It also points out some unforgotten bad racialist aspects, notably when Jews were ostracised at the turn of World War Two. The story itself focusses on the way Oliver has been living after his youth spent between his mother, a rather unconventional woman, and his father, an art historian who waited so many years to make his coming out.
Oliver is eagerly in quest of happiness, full of tenderness towards his father, deeply but clumsily in love with Anna and much attached to his father's dog, not regarded as a simple pet but as a close and comprehensive friend.
This movie is an artistic masterpiece, assembling the pieces of a puzzle formed by the strange couple formed by Oliver's mother and father and his relationship with Anna and art. Now the question is "what's next? Will Mills be able to make another extraordinary movie, this time not based on his own life ?"
Born in 1966 in Berkeley, California, Mike Mills graduated from Cooper Union, a famous art school, in 1989 Working as a filmaker, graphic designer and artist, he compled a number of music videos, commercial short films, documentaries and the feature film "Thumbsucker" adapted from a novel by Walter Kirn in 2005. His commercial works include international campaigns for Levi, Gap, Wolkswagen, Addidas and Nike. He also directed many music videos for bands such as Air, Pulp, Everything but the Girl, Moby, Yoko Ono and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. As an artist, Mills designed CD covers for several bands ,fabrics for Marc Jacobs and books such as "Hyper Ballad" and "Baby Generation" featuring the photographs of Takashi Homma.
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Due to be released in Paris in June 2011, Mike Mills' movie "Beginners" is a rare gem bringing some new fresh air in the world of U.S films.
Mirroring some aspects of American life during the past 50 years, this autobiographical movie has little in common with U.S comedies usually starring such artists as Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney or Owen Wilson among others.
On top of that, Mike Mills who is an accomplished artist designing videos and covers for records or drawing people's portraits seems to have the kind of intellectual touch that U.S film makers such as Quentin Tarantino, the Farrelli brothers or Steven Spielberg are far from exhaling.
Though bearing the influence of Woody Allen, François Truffaut and other European directors, "Beginners" has a true personal flavour perhaps because this movie is essentially based on Mills' uncommon life. Unlike Woody Allen whose characters are most of th time intellectual New Yorkers somewhat unsatisfied with their lives, Mills tends to be more introspective in showing people trying to find a meaning to their existence.
As mills puts it, in many ways this film is a continuation of conversations between Oliver, a straight son (Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor) and his recently out gay dad (Christopher Plummer) about their relationships. "He wanted me to finally stay with someone, and he and I would talk and argue and finally get past the niceties that kept things between us sweet yet flat for so long. I learned a whole lot more about love, vulnerability, commitment, sex, and the confusion that is relationships from my gay dad than I did when he was my straight dad", he said
Mills' parents were married in 1955, even though his half Jewish mother knew his dad was gay, at a church in San Francisco, just blocks away from the apartment where Allen Ginsberg was simultaneously writing his poem "Howl".
"Beginners" is thus a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. It explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver and Anna, an unpredictable French Jewess (Mélanie Laurent of "Inglourious Basterds") only months after his father Hal has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who – following 44 years of marriage – came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life. The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, finally bring father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be. Then, Oliver endeavours to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him though he fears that he won't be able to offer her what she deeply wants.
"Beginners" is really apart in the world of U.S movies especially as it casts a sensitive light on the gay community which led a longstanding struggle to defend its rights. It also points out some unforgotten bad racialist aspects, notably when Jews were ostracised at the turn of World War Two. The story itself focusses on the way Oliver has been living after his youth spent between his mother, a rather unconventional woman, and his father, an art historian who waited so many years to make his coming out.
Oliver is eagerly in quest of happiness, full of tenderness towards his father, deeply but clumsily in love with Anna and much attached to his father's dog, not regarded as a simple pet but as a close and comprehensive friend.
This movie is an artistic masterpiece, assembling the pieces of a puzzle formed by the strange couple formed by Oliver's mother and father and his relationship with Anna and art. Now the question is "what's next? Will Mills be able to make another extraordinary movie, this time not based on his own life ?"
Born in 1966 in Berkeley, California, Mike Mills graduated from Cooper Union, a famous art school, in 1989 Working as a filmaker, graphic designer and artist, he compled a number of music videos, commercial short films, documentaries and the feature film "Thumbsucker" adapted from a novel by Walter Kirn in 2005. His commercial works include international campaigns for Levi, Gap, Wolkswagen, Addidas and Nike. He also directed many music videos for bands such as Air, Pulp, Everything but the Girl, Moby, Yoko Ono and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. As an artist, Mills designed CD covers for several bands ,fabrics for Marc Jacobs and books such as "Hyper Ballad" and "Baby Generation" featuring the photographs of Takashi Homma.
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