andrewfleming-57891 What a diasappointing film. Beginners has a lot going for it; its a comedy, highly rated and features an oscar winning performance. However, the film itself is notfunny at all. The only jokes are repeated many times - the childish voices and giving the dog subtitles. These jokes didnt make me smile even once and by the end they were just very annoying. The actors are also very disappointing and none of their characters are very memorable, inuding oscar winning Christopher Plummer. He is undeserving of the award and is defnitealy the weakest performance from any supporting winner I have seen. Perhaps Michael Sheen for Midnight in Paris or Kenneth Brannagh for My Week with Marilyn would be more deserving winners. The direction is very difficult to understand. There are regular montage shots during the film that seem to mostly feature US presidents. The introduction to Christopher Plummer is also a collection of about twenty shots of him in different outfits talking to the camera. Neither of these techniques are neccessary and instead they just confuse the viewer.All in all, a poor film. Not worth seeing for any reason.

classicsoncall The thing about watching a movie with a conflicted principal character is that I generally want to kick them in the butt to get them moving in the right direction. Ewan McGregor's Oliver in this story kept spinning his wheels in the relationship with Anna (Melanie Laurent), even when it looked like he might have been having fun. After a while, it began to affect Anna, that's her quote above in my summary line.The one who genuinely knew what he was doing was Oliver's father Hal, wonderfully performed by Christopher Plummer. His was the kind of role in a popular film that forever after makes you wonder if the man is still alive or not, like Burgess Meredith in the 'Rocky' movies. I just looked him up, and he's still going strong at eighty seven, with four movies in post-production.I liked Plummer in this film, his portrayal of a gay man coming out after the death of his wife of forty five years was handled with a sincerity that could have been over the top if handled by a different film maker. My understanding is that writer and director Mike Mills had a similar life experience with his own father which formed the basis of this story. With that understanding, he would have had some valuable insight.Back to Oliver - seriously, you've got to ditch that hideous wall poster of 'Siedem Razy Kobieta'. Even though this was a movie, seeing it hanging in the living room seriously upset my personal feng shui. If you couldn't make the whole thing out, it was the Polish theatrical poster for Shirley MacLaine's film "Woman Times Seven". How that fit into Oliver's life I couldn't tell you, but it caused me some pain.This movie probably won't appeal to everyone. Even today, there's some resistance to the idea of gay characters in film though that's changing daily. As I stated earlier, the subject is handled maturely without being offensive, and the movie fairly conveys a live and let live philosophy. A hint for Oliver, learn to live a little.

wasiimabbas It is really sad movie .I couldn't have guessed from the trailer the way this movie turned out be.Watching this move takes lot of energy out of you.It is a very slow paced movie which gives lot of time to think about the movie as well as pain the Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is going through with his life after the death of father Hal (Christopher Plummer). When he meets unpredictable and equally troubled soul Anna (Mélanie Laurent) there is an instant connection but as time passes Oliver failure to be happy with his life comes to the fore. McGregor and Plummer provide wonderful performances varying from heart- aching to occasionally humorous.overall really nice movie if you have required time and energy.

moonspinner55 Ewan McGregor plays a graphic artist in Los Angeles who enters into an uncertain romantic relationship with an actress while recalling the last few years taking care of his widower father, a man in his 70s who recently came out of the closet before being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Mike Mills wrote and directed this lovely drama, one with poignant passages and performances, though it's a mild picture that feels benign at its core. Mills has a keen eye for catching small but meaningful expressions and moments that linger just long enough on-screen to make an impression on us. He's clearly helped by his nimble editor, Olivier Bugge Coutte, but nothing can disguise the thinness of Mills' screenplay (it's lacking not just in overall material, but also in dramatic cohesiveness). Christopher Plummer is heartbreaking as McGregor's dying father; however, his relationships with both a younger boyfriend and a circle of older gay pals are sketchy (Plummer gets involved in gay causes and tests the bar scene, yet his friends come and go at whim--whenever Mills needs them). McGregor is very low-keyed here (it's his least-offensive performance), yet this extremely quiet approach doesn't do much for a film which is already photographed in subdued shades and with minimal music (and what there is of a music score, from Roger Neill, David Palmer and Brian Reitzell, is terrible). Worthwhile despite its faults, which includes an unnecessary reprise of fatherly smiles near the end. Plummer deservedly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. **1/2 from ****