20th Century Women

20th Century Women is a special little melting pot for individuals across different decades hanging out and assimilating with each other for two hours.

Writer-director Mike Mills has etched out an exclusively rare and anomalous screenplay to celebrate the stories of five personalities in a feel-good atmosphere! It has patterns with images, subtexts, fast-forwards, narrations and SMPTE color bars coated car travels. Roger Neill's singular score for the verbal storytelling parts is tranquilizing!

Annette Benning plays Dorothea, a very supportive mother to Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). While one has seen the Depression, another is a teenager in the 70s. She attempts to understand her son and raise him to become a proper being in the society. She's aware that she'll never be able to see how Jamie is as a person outside of her sight. To suspend the possibility of a missing dad figure in his life, Dorothea seeks the help of her tenant Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and a friend Julie (Elle Fanning) to look after him and his growth. As the son and mother spend time of their own being apart, both begin to discover their place in the current era. Dorothea explores relationships, rock music and culture, while Jamie's drawn into feminism. When they reconvene after a period, they are able to see each other in new light and perspectives.

The script harnesses sadness so well and delivers it as comedy. Before the 2000s happened, how was it back in the day? Were we able to talk about menstruation or sexual experiences openly? Was most man misogynistic who never really understood women and how their orgasm experiences are like? How far has women come along to this very day and the evolutions that have taken place? And how hard is it to break the bubbles of fixed societal perceptions? Significant sequences are used to discuss these matters visually, and one such example would be the pregnancy test scene.

At the end of the day, it's a motion picture where a bunch of beautiful people come together to connect, assimilate, learn and grow with each other as they move forward with their own lives to the future beyond the 20th century. All the actors did a first-rate job to actualize the dream of a movie that wishes to share this unique experience that may never be possible elsewhere.