20th Century Women

Writer/Director Mike Mills’ 20^th Century Women is an endearing film about the effect of burgeoning feminism on three women in the late ‘70s.

Annette Bening plays Dorothea, the 55-year-old matriarch of a house under reconstruction as she tries to keep some of the “old values” alive and raise her 15-year-old son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) into whatever manhood is supposed to be in an age of rapid change.

 

Greta Gerwig is a 20-something would-be rebel, who lives with them and Elle Fanning is Jamie’s 17-year-old best friend, who is trying to figure out the balance between sex and friendship.

Billy Crudup plays a once-hippy handyman, living in the household while doing the reconstruction.

The interplay of these delightful and beautifully portrayed characters as all of them come-of-age is what makes the film work.

My only criticism is that it is a bit too long.

Despite that, 20^th Century Women gets a 4 out of 5.