20th Century Women (2016)

IMDb plot summary: The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.

Directed by Mike Mills. Starring Annette Benning, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig.

20th Century Women stars Annette Benning as a single mom to a teenage boy played by Lucas Jade Zumann. She worries he isn't getting enough positive influences in his life and ropes in her feminist punk rocker tenant, played by Greta Gerwig, and the boy's female best friend, played by Elle Fanning, to help him figure out his life. This is the kind of slow indie drama that can be done really sloppily, but in this one everything just works, largely because Bening grounds the rest of the cast with her deeply relatable character. The script is also excellent, managing to set up all the typical coming-of-age milestones and life lessons without making it ever seem schmaltzy. I'm usually not a fan of Gerwig at all, but here her attitude of bored distance mostly works, especially in combination with the other women in the film. I also really liked the narrative device of having the characters occasionally speak about their lives from the future -- it widened the film's perspective in a way I found very moving. This is one of those movies that just *works*, and I'm glad I got to see it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

20th Century Women > The Invention of Lying

20th Century Women > The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

20th Century Women < The White Tiger

20th Century Women < Onward

20th Century Women < Shiva Baby

20th Century Women < The African Queen

20th Century Women < Mister Roberts

20th Century Women > What Maisie Knew

20th Century Women < Steven Universe: The Movie

20th Century Women < The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall

20th Century Women > The Boy and the Heron

20th Century Women < Robin Hood (1973)

Final spot: #957 out of 3901, or 75%.