20th Century Women (2016)

Annette Benning’s Dorothea is a single Mother trying to do the best for her teenage son Jamie, by enlisting help from Abbie (an excellent Greta Gerwig) and Jamie’s best friend Julie (a great performance from Elle Fanning). I couldn’t help but think Benning’s Dorothea could almost be an older version of Carolyn, from 1999’s American Beauty, albeit without the neurotic narcissism. Despite the obvious differences between the characters, I couldn’t shake that feeling, and that’s not a criticism in any way. 20th Century Women is a tremendous coming of age film, as well as being a focus on Dorothea raising her son. The cameos from people like Billy Crudup and Alia Shawkat are relevant and engaging; Shawkat is especially prescient because there are similarities with her starring role in Animals (2018). Mike Mills (who directed 2021’s C’mon C’mon) nails down a challenging genre to successfully navigate, nodding to such films as Shithouse (2020) as well as reminding me of Call Me By Your Name (2017). Drawing you into both Jamie and Dorothea’s lives as grippingly as it does is no mean feat, and reminds you once again, (as if you didn’t know) that Annette Benning is simply fantastic in every respect. 7.8/10