20th Century Women (***)

With a title like "20th Century Women," it's unfortunate that the title takes away so much from the male characters, arguably an equally as important aspect of this tiny movie's impressive ensemble. Set in the summer of 1979 when times were changing without anyone noticing, it was a shift of culture that in retrospect took everyone by surprise. Mike Mills (the director who's other semi-autobiographical story was 2010's "Beginners, a movie about an elderly man coming to terms with his sexuality) clearly has a lot to say in this movie which he both wrote and directed. It's just too much crammed into too simple a movie.

Until I heard that this was based on the director's life I would have assumed this was a knock-off of "Almost Famous," perhaps the greatest coming-of-age movie ever made. Both movies follow in similar tread, defining a culture that is based on drugs and hard rock. The hero of the story is Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), a 15 year old boy who's mother is Dorothea (Annette Bening), a staunch totalitarian that has a more sympathetic ear for her child's needs. They live in a house in southern California that is large enough to rent out tenants. Abbie (Greta Gerwig) is a photographer with flaming red hair and a knack for photography. She is a damaged soul. Also living there is William (Billy Crudup) who is both a handyman and father-figure for Jamie.

As he enters his teenage years, Dorothea begins to see changes in her son that would have been filled with a father present (his absence is not touched on in the film). She recruits both Abbie and Jamie's friend, Julie (Elle Fanning) to try and guide him towards adulthood in her stead. This is one of the stranger aspects in the movie: that we see Dorothea and Jamie have a healthy relationship and yet suddenly she feels unmatched and lost in raising him. The tone shifts from nurturing mother and friend to stranger almost scene to scene, and I was left wondering what happened.

Through Abbie, Jamie learns about the feminism movement and a bit more about her checkered past (an ovarian cancer survivor with little chance of ever having her own kids). Amidst the Oscar buzz for Bening, I found that Greta Gerwig was the real star of the movie, dancing a tightrope between comedy and tragedy with ease. With Julie, he sees a girl that sparks his interest and yet she brags about the other boys she has been with. The movie goes on and on sparking scene after scene in which voiceover tells us more about the characters than the words ever do. This is a gimmick of the director that he also overused in 'Beginners.' The narration helps create a more present image of the characters we see, but the film becomes more and more existential and loses a lot of the charm found in the quieter moments.

The film also takes many sidetracks and turns that amount to nothing. An affair between Abbie and William is a prominent feature in the beginning and yet these characters never acknowledge each other again (even though they live together). Jamie's relationship with his childhood friends is glimpsed in a few moments, and yet the film would have us believe that he does nothing but sleep and hang out with 30 year olds found around his home. There's a lot of ground covered in the film's astonishing 2-hour run time, and in the end it was simply too much for one movie to process thoroughly.

There's one moment in the film where Dorothea confesses that she will never know her son the way he really is. After going out with Abbie and hearing about the good times they had, Dorothea says "You get to see him out in the world as a person. I never will." Abbie (the photographer) pulls out a blurry Polaroid of Jamie smiling, dancing at a party in a blissful moment. Dorothea regards the photo and smiles. Out of all the moments in '20th Century Women' (both good and bad), this was the one that sticks in my mind. It's great writing and one of the more perfect comments on a child's relationship with their parents. Too bad the rest of the film wasn't as insightful.