Search - 20th Century Women on DVD

B.J. W. (analogkid01) from CHICAGO, IL
Reviewed on 7/5/2025...

"Having your heart broken is a tremendous way to learn about the world."

So says single mother Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening) in "20th Century Women," the 2016 film by writer-director Mike Mills. Her son is Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), a good kid who gets into the standard set of trouble teenage boys in the late 70s would get into. Dorothea subsequently over-engineers a support system in Jamie's life, consisting of his platonic friends Julie (Elle Fanning) and Abbie (Greta Gerwig), and his mother's handyman William (Billy Crudup). They reluctantly agree to Dorothea's unnecessary co-parenting scheme while Jamie tries to retain his sanity.

The film shares similarities to - bear with me here - The Big Lebowski. It's less about the story than it is about the characters and the dialogue. The Oscar-nominated script is a joy even if the film's pace feels deliberately slower-than-average. It's not consistently laugh-out-loud funny like Lebowski, but it's nevertheless a pleasure to watch.

It's also quite possibly the most feminist film of the 2010s. Jamie's friends introduce him to feminist literature of the time (Our Bodies Ourselves, Sisterhood is Powerful, The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm, etc.). The fact that the film is written and directed by a man, centers around a 15-year-old boy, yet stars powerhouse artists like Gerwig and Bening gives the film and its gender politics a refreshingly *balanced* feel. The film is brave enough to acknowledge the older Dorothea's reluctance to discuss the particulars of menstruation at the dinner table, for example. At no point does the film feel preachy or heavy-handed.

I really can only nitpick the fact that Julie doesn't have much of a character aside from being the sexually-active girl who consistently rebuffs Jamie, yet still wants to sleep in his bed; and the fact that we never quite understand William and Dorothea's relationship - although in all honesty, maybe they don't either.

Grade: A-minus

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 11/27/2021...

Slow start, got going, lost interest about 20 minutes in and hit the 120X FF. I did not have the patience for this movie. If you did, be sure to post your review and I may revisit it.