Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
20th Century Women is a quietly distinctive film elevated by remarkable performances, particularly Annette Bening's career-best work as Dorothea. Mike Mills brings a deeply personal, essayistic voice to the coming-of-age genre, using direct-address narration, archival imagery, and fragmented character histories to create something genuinely singular in its tone and conception. The plot is deliberately loose and episodic rather than dramatically driven, which suits the film's mood but limits its narrative momentum. Cinematography is warm and period-authentic without being especially daring. The ending, reflective and bittersweet, feels tonally right but somewhat muted in emotional payoff.