20th Century Women (2016)

Directed by Mike Mills. Starring Annette Bening, Lucas Jade Zumann, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, Billy Crudup, Alison Elliott, Thea Gill. [R]

Filmmaker Mills’ most thematically and cinematically ambitious effort to date is (like Beginners) inspired in part by his own life experiences. Jamie Fields (Zumann) is a SoCal teenager in the late-70s with a single mom (Bening) who had him when she was forty and is an “old school” free spirit who feels so disconnected from her son and the constantly-changing social attitudes, she looks to her young-adult tenant (Gerwig) to help raise and instruct him. Observant and poignant and unafraid to be messy—in its own way, just as flawed as Thumbsucker and Beginners were, but much more assured in its approach and fascinating in its sprawling reach—and it’s one of those coming-of-age-style narratives that not only uses time and place for its evocative qualities rather than a referential road map, but also truly, yet subtly, builds as it goes, sharply etching its major characters with the sort of details rarely seen outside of dense classic lit. Zumann’s passivity for the lion’s share is of a piece, and makes it a little hard to believe his rebellious and self-confident moments, but Bening is terrifically distinct yet complex; based on the title, should it be any surprise the females in the kid’s life tend to be the more intriguing and vivdly-developed characters? Roger Neill’s ambient score borders on the exquisite, and the soundtrack is packed with cool tunes from cool artists (Talking Heads, Suicide, the Clash, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux, Black Flag, etc.). Alia Shawkat has a minor role.

85/100