★★½: 20th Century Women by Mike Mills

 

This movie is carried entirely by the characters— they’re all cookie-cutter stereotypes, but you end up forming emotional attachments to them nonetheless. Unfortunately, when combined with the general lack of true substance, the cheesy effects, the one liners so obviously meant to provoke thought ending up being only nose-blow laugh worthy, the endearingness of the characters wasn’t enough to hold my interest all the way through. 

The set design was good, and I guess their decision to forgo warm nostalgic coloring made the story feel more timeless but it also meant that it took me a while to realize it wasn’t set in the modern day. The random historical photographs were cool but felt out of place. I REALLY wish they’d delver deeper into the nonlinear conception of time.

The end bit when they ran away is SUCH an overdone trope, William felt more like an arty indie softboi than a not-hippie, and as a woman of color, I couldn’t find it in me to relate to their silly white teenager individualistic surface level quest for the meaning of life.

I tried to formulate a theory that middle class white women make overlenient, overemotional mothers because they have never had to stand their ground against colonial powers but even I’m not pretentious enough to pull that off. 

The actual ending where nothing much changed with Jamie’s relationship with his mother was perfect. Greta Gerwig’s character deserves a kiss on the lips.


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