Beginners

Saw Beginners, a sophisticated relationship movie of the melancholy, whimsical, Woody Allen variety. The film follows Oliver, a boy raised by parents in a lovely but loveless relationship. After his mother dies Oliver's father comes out as gay and begins to really live and enjoy his life just before dying himself. The film is emphatically not about his father's crazy gay sex life however, but about Oliver who has no idea how relationships with love included actually work. Despite being an artist, Oliver is restrained and bottled up, fearing subtly that he's inherited something from his father that has left him unable to love. Perhaps he's gay, perhaps he was just emotionally neglected, whatever.

He inherits an adorably scruffy Jack Russell terrier who talks to him via subtitles and who symbolizes his father's love. Pathetic and needy, the dog whines when left alone but is also full of surprises. At a party someone asks if the dog does tricks. Oliver gruffly says no, but the dog reacts to sit, speak, shake. Clearly, there are unplumbed depths here. Anyway, at this party Oliver meets a French actress who has similar troubles connecting to people. Being an actress, she is keenly aware that who people are is not the same as what they appear to be. She talks about how much she used to love hopping from fancy hotel room to fancy hotel room but that now they just seem like a long succession of empty rooms, waiting for her. Her father, by the way, only calls her up to talk about killing himself. Nice.

So, the film is really interested in finding out what's making Oliver so sad and finding out if he can ever prove himself wrong and have a serious, strong relationship. The film is cute and melancholy, sophisticated and complex. Everyone's fairly wealthy and if I were in a grumpier mood I would lambaste it for dwelling on the relationship troubles of the rich and comfy. I liked this film. I'm not the most emotionally intelligent person, but I was able to understand its beats and its points. A small, pleasant film, and well done.