There are different types of films in the world. In this day and age, we tend to gravitate to whatever movie is generating the biggest buzz at the Box Office. Blockbusters are the de rigueur for most trips to the movies these days and the studios turn out high cost, special effects laden events, each designed to out do the previous in terms of scale and production. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the wonderment and magic of what is being accomplished in modern cinema today. Sometimes though, we forget that cinema is about art and art is about connection. All the special effects and big budgets in the world cannot replace the art of the story. Mike Mills writes and directs a movie that is only about story and connection and sheds everything else as superfluous to give us a pure and heartfelt experience that we sometimes forget are what movies are all about.
Oliver (Ewan McGregor) has his world turned upside down by two major revelations. First; that after his mother has died his 75 yr old father Hal (Christopher Plummer) has come out the closet and wishes to explore his long suppressed sexuality with a new young male lover. Second; Oliver learns that his father has terminal cancer.
I always admire foreign actors who can play Americans with practiced ease. Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer are both actors that are a pleasure to watch and are able to do this. There is no hint of their British pedigree as they weave this tale of a common American man facing his personal issues against the back drop of the death of his father.
You would think that this film would be about a son trying to come to grips with his father’s homosexuality when, in fact, that has very little to do with the story. Oliver’s journey comes after his father’s death as he tries to understand why he is perennially single and unable to make any relationship work. The film is a meditation on the nature of his relationships and why he is alone. His father’s dog (whom he takes in after his death) provides him the closest of all of his relationships and is a foil for his inner conflicts. His conversations with his dog provide insights to his loneliness. The dog is adorable and silent, yet communicates with Oliver through subtitles (or perhaps this is what Oliver projects). It sounds weird, but it works in a low key, subtle, and humorous way.
Oliver finds hope when he meets a lovely French woman named Anna (played by the alluring Melanie Laurent from Inglorious Basterds fame). Melanie Laurent possess a simple, yet hypnotic European beauty that is impossible not to be charmed by. The chemistry between McGregor and Laurent is effortless and we feel deeply for these characters as they draw close to each other. Anna is not without her own baggage in regards to relationships and the two struggle as they draw closer. Not the screaming and yelling struggles that European directors put forth as art, rather simple fundamental struggles of feelings and what they mean. The movie doesn’t answer questions, but observes how we push people away in order to protect ourselves, yet that same act ends up hurting us more.
Oliver struggles to understand the nature of relationships through flashbacks of his own life and more specifically of the last four years spent with his dying father. His father worries about his son’s ability to find someone even though his secret life is what probably prevents him from connecting with someone. Hal loved Oliver’s mother, but his hidden sexual orientation during his marriage prevented him from providing the path and example of honest emotional connection. Even his final years of happiness with his male lover is not without complications and the relationship is full of compromises that sour Oliver’s view on relationships.
The movie is masterfully done and written without pretense. A simple story that is simply moving. Judging by the synopsis, it sounds like it would be a ‘downer’ movie, but quite the opposite is true. It is very uplifting, while at the same time being quiet and somber. It takes it’s time and despite it’s simplicity, does not bore the audience. Only the hardest heart could not be charmed by the emotional journey taken by Oliver and Hanna as they struggle to find a lasting connection.
To me, this is what movies should be all about. The art of crafting a story that moves us, makes us appreciate beauty, and allows us to examine life from different perspectives.
I rate this movie **** stars
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