By: Jade West, Staff Writer
In director and writer Mike Mill’s semi-autobiographical film, “Beginners,” Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a man fascinated by history– the history of his parents, the history of sadness, the history of Jack Russell Terriers; he even goes as far as to spray paint what he calls “historical consciousness” onto the walls of his city. Oliver uses the past to explain why things are the way they are now; however, while he spends his time looking back, his life keeps moving forward.
The story follows three separate timelines in Oliver’s life: his childhood with his mother, the final years of his father’s life, in which his father, played by Christopher Plummer, is finally able to live as an openly gay man, and the time after his father’s death when he is trying to balance a budding love life with his grief.
“Beginners” is a delicate and beautiful film about the best and worst times in a person’s life and how those times can often overlap. This is an important film that should not be missed.
