Film Review, 20th Century Women, Stories of 3 Women

Mabelle 2022-04-19 09:02:33

There are not many films with purely female themes, but with the changes of the times, more and more films with women as the main topic have begun to capture the film market, which is very intriguing.

Today's introduction is "20th Century Women" starring Annette Bening, the story tells the story of three women in Santa Barbara, California, in the 1970s, exploring love and freedom.

The film is nearly 2 hours long, which is not short, but it does not feel drowsy. Instead, it is idle and fresh in the air.
Three women of different ages, 17-year-old Julie (self-defeating), 24-year-old Abbie (literary youth), and 55-year-old Dorothea (single mother). The three people with different personalities have one thing in common - Jamie (Dorothea's son). Almost all the main lines of the story are laid out with Jamie as the center, and the relationship between the three female protagonists is also logical due to the existence of this boy.

As a quite interesting female-themed film, the excellent performance of the director, screenwriter and actors has won unanimous praise from audiences and professional film critics. With a freshness rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and a metascore of 83, it is definitely an excellent work.

The director and screenwriter of this work, Mike Mills, is a real artist. After the new century, he began to switch to the film and television industry. The style and style of the work are quite artistic . The
three female actors
are older and more charming, Annette Bening, who plays the mother ,Warlords. A frown, a smile, a look, a turn, and a single word are enough to highlight Dorothea's stubbornness and stereotypes

. The young and beautiful Elle Fanning, who plays Julie, is young but shows her acting talent beyond her age. Her casual, unrestrained living, debauched life, played Julie's

punk-flavored Greta Gerwig in the play, played Abbie, as a Mesozoic actor, was completely buried. The unruly image and the literary temperament of the gesture completely conquered the audience

This is a female-themed film with distinctive features. It is so small and fresh, so unconventional, and so colorful. It is indeed capable. Looking back at the years that enriched the feminist movement and social changes, the director used the growth of a boy to drive the growth of the three female protagonists in the story, which must be said to be unique. In this seemingly unremarkable life, mixed with various strong symbols of the times - feminism, punk, President Reagan, it seems to pull the audience back to that era in an instant.

The film takes the growth of a boy as the main source of narrative, and uses the three female protagonists beside him to frame the development of the plot. Everything seems to be smooth and smooth, but after careful consideration of each bridge segment, it is inevitably bumpy and thought-provoking. . The "growth" mentioned in the film not only refers to one person - Jamie, but the growth of five people, and it is the growth of an era. From an individual to a group to an era, the meaning of "growth" is from small to large, starting from a small person and ending with a big era. This is the most classic "deduction method" of this movie.

After reading this work, I have a lot of thoughts. People living in the 21st century today have a hard time imagining life in the last century, so there are countless young and frivolous people; however, those who have experienced the hardships of the last century have been unable to keep up with the times, so there are not a few old and self-sufficient people. . These two types of people account for a large proportion in society, and the resulting generation gap is like a gulf that is difficult to bridge. Although I wanted to change myself, I went back to the starting point over and over again. Just like these people in the story, they are all changing, trying to change, but the result is returning to the original point, continuing their previous route, and going all the way... Is this wrong or right? It is worth everyone's thinking

Director★★★★★ (ingenious conception, unique insight into the film)
Actors★★★★☆ (post-screen performance, the little boy is slightly weaker)
Plot★★★★★ (fresh plot, realistic content , far-reaching)
visual effects ★★★★★ (perfect, impeccable)
sound effects ★★★★★ (reproducing the American music trend in the 1970s and 1980s)

Recommended crowd: Female audiences

detailed film reviews + stills first published in "Floyd and Helen's Journey Highlights", thanks

View more about 20th Century Women reviews

Extended Reading
  • Darby 2022-04-22 07:01:42

    It's rare to come across a movie like "Phantom Light": although it's not a very happy movie, it even put me to sleep at one point, but the process of watching the movie is very comfortable and makes me feel very happy, this is really a very special movie watching Feelings (it should be the exhaustion of the day's work that leads to a poor mental state, go back and make up for the ending). —— Non-linear narrative, the cut-in design of the memory part is quite special, and the rock music in the film is also used very well...

  • Tracey 2022-03-23 09:02:39

    At the beginning of feminism, they all felt that they could lead the way. But the torrent of the era of great change broke through the barriers and blocked the sight, they were left, they were taken away.

20th Century Women quotes

  • Dorothea: That was my husband's Ford Galaxy. We drove Jamie home from the hospital in that car.

    Jamie: My mom was forty when she had me. Everyone told her she was too old to be a mother.

    Dorothea: I put my hand through the little window, and he'd squeeze my finger, and I'd tell him life was very big... and unknown.

    Jamie: And she told me that there were animals, and sky, and cities...

    Dorothea: ...music, movies. He'd fall in love, have his own children, have passions, have meaning, have his mom and dad.

    Jamie: When they got divorced, my father moved back east and left the car with us. He calls on birthdays and Christmas. Last time I felt close to him was on my birthday in 1974. He bought me mirrored sunglasses. I saw the president fall down the stairs and I threw up on the carpet.

    Dorothea: Since then it's just been us.

  • Dorothea: Actually, it was, it was built in 1905, and the same family had it forever, but they lost all their money during the war, and then there was a fire and... You should've been here for that. Anyway, so, it was just a mess. They let it fall apart. Then a bohemian inherited it in the '60s, then a bunch of free spirits moved in, and they lost it to the bank.