Cute is in right now. It's unavoidable. You can't do a Google search without a lolcat popping up in your face. You can't avoid Zooey Deschanel--she even has her own TV show now! You can't walk around in a downtown urban area without seeing guys in pants so tight you can read their credit card numbers right through the butt pocket, and young women with dyed black hair and tattoos of kittens wearing Native American headdresses (it isn't racist because I voted for Obama!!). Cuteness, tweeness, hipsterness, whatever you want to call it, is here and dammit, you better learn to like it!
And in addition to fashion and the Interblognets, tweeness is quite prevalent in movies and entertainment. Garden State, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Away We Go, (500) Days of Summer, Sunshine Cleaning, Lars and the Real Girl...and now, Mike Mills' (who is married to the Queen of Twee herself, Miranda July) semi-autobiographical film Beginners, about a man, his gay dad, his philosophical dog, and his Manic Pixie French Dream Girlfriend. Now, before you think I'm going to rip into this movie, let me just say this: I'm not. I really liked Beginners. I thought that, despite the twee elements, the movie had more emotional depth than 1,000--nay, 10,000!--Days of Summer. I thought that the lead actors--the wonderful Ewan McGregor and legendary Christopher Plummer (as well as the supporting actors, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visinjic, and Mary Page Keller)--elevated Beginners above the mire of oppressive cuteness.
But let's talk a little more about twee since I'm on a roll here. When did twee begin? Whose fault is it, really? Some may point the finger at Wes Anderson (full disclosure: I love Wes Anderson). But I personally would trace twee back to French New Wave. Have you seen Breathless? There's a reason college kids love that movie. It's twee as fuck! Or how about another one of my favorites: Jules and Jim, which features a scene of a woman drawing a moustache on her face, as well as shots filmed by cameras mounted on bicycles (the preferred method of twee transportation, btw), and mild homoeroticism. Twee!
The difference between old school twee and new school twee, in my opinion, is that old school twee didn't use preciousness as a substitute for character development. Take Jules and Jim as an example: the character Catherine is described as "capricious" and "free-spirited", much like Natalie Portman's character Sam in Garden State. The difference is that Catherine is a woman with a full range of personality traits and emotions. Catherine is simultaneously seductive and frightening; fickle and decisive. You can't decide whether you love her or hate her--and neither can Jules or Jim. What is Sam? Sam is a girl who wears a helmet to work and thinks the Shins will "change your life". She, like every other character in Garden State, is merely a collection of quirky traits and interests who exists for the sole purpose of getting Zach Braff's pathetic life back on track. Catherine is part of a vibrant and sexy and ever-changing love triangle...Sam is a really cute crutch.
So this sums up my problem with twee. Actually, I have two problems with twee. The first is that twee movies use weirdness, quirkyness, and preciousness in place of quality story telling and character development. And they usually go overboard with the whole "quirky" thing anyway. The second problem is that twee really, really, really wants to live in a world without problems. In the world of twee, Lars of Lars and the Real Girl acts like a sex doll is his living, breathing girlfriend...and the whole town goes along with the charade! In real life, Lars would probably be institutionalized or, at least, mocked. In the world of twee, 16 year old Juno gives her out-of-wedlock baby to a very nice woman and gets back together with her boyfriend. In real life, Juno would be tormented at school, her parents would probably be ashamed and angry at her, and her boyfriend would almost certainly break up with her at some point. The world of twee is a fantasy world where people are infinitely accepting of eccentricities and where sad things happen, but horrible things never happen. Oh, and the world of twee is almost exclusively populated by white people (It isn't racist because they listen to Danger Mouse!!).
But I'm being way harsh on twee movies. The fact is, I enjoyed a lot of the movies I've poked fun at. I'm not immune to a soundtrack populated by Belle and Sebastian and Nick Drake. I love the clothes people wear in twee movies. And I can pretty much guarantee that most twee movies have better scripts, cinematography, and acting than a great many blockbusters. At this point though, twee movies seem to be just as formulaic as any other lazy and oversaturated genre. Twee has gone mainstream.
But back to Beginners. The movie is about a man named Oliver (Ewan McGregor) whose 75 year old father, Hal (Christopher Plummer. Give this man an Oscar already!), comes out as gay after Oliver's mother dies. Hal decides to make up for lost time. He joins gay political organizations and gay movie nights. He gets a disturbingly younger boyfriend (Goran Visinjic). Four years later, Hal is dying of cancer. The movie is also about the avoidant, closed-off Oliver starting a relationship with the avoidant, closed-off Anna (Melanie Laurent), and the problems the two inevitably face, both being avoidant and closed-off and all. Beginners jumps back and forth between these two plots and I have to say, I strongly preferred the former. The whole coming out of the closest as a senior citizen story was both funny and fascinating. When Hal gives Oliver a rainbow sticker and tells him that it means gay pride, Oliver tells Hal that everyone knows that, which Hal can't believe. To Hal, gay culture is new and exciting. To Oliver, gay culture is pretty much just part of everyday life. McGregor is excellent as a modern and tolerant man who is bewildered by his dad's homosexuality, but not disgusted by it. He watches Hal kiss Andy, his younger boyfriend, on the lips, and the look on Oliver's face is amazement: this is a new side to his dad that was always there, but always hidden, and now surfacing. Oliver isn't threatened or angry, but simply in the process or recalibrating his whole view of his father.
When Hal gets sick, his attitude changes from "let's fight this thing", to complete denial, to acceptance. Plummer is remarkable in this role. He plays Hal as a gentle man with a happy and thankful disposition. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Hal takes advantage of all the happiness and pleasure and fun available in life--even while lying on his deathbed. It's Oliver, who like Hal is a very gentle man, though a bit more passive, who carries the sadness of Hal's sickness like a weight on his shoulders. Maybe that makes Oliver a good son: he bears the emotional pain for his father, who is forced to bear the physical pain.
McGregor and Plummer breathe life into these fully-drawn characters, so that even when the cuteness is a little too much, the film remains grounded and substantive.
I was less thrilled with the other story, the love story, though Melanie Laurent and McGregor definitely have chemistry. I don't know how else to explain it, except to say that their kisses look real. Maybe it's just because I've had the hots for Ewan Mcgregor since early high school, but he kisses actresses like he freakin' means it (and maybe he does...McGregor and his wife apparently have an open marriage).
Overall, I found that Beginners was a rare twee movie that worked. The characters (well, Hal and Oliver at least) have solid personalities, yet they both change throughout the film. They have arcs. They react to situations such as cancer, sex, and love in believable ways. They live in a world where there are problems and hardships, yet they find ways to thrive and adapt. The father/son story in Beginners is heartwarming, but not sentimental or saccharine. Even at age 75, Hal is still able to teach his son something about life and embracing change. And that's exactly the point of the movie: it's never too late to try something different.
4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment