It's 1979 in California and single mother Dorothea (Annete Bening) is worried about what kind of a man her 15 year old son Jamie will turn out to be. He doesn't relate with the only male in the household, William, the tenant who sends much of his time helping the never ending restoration of Dorothea's ramshackle old house. So she turns to her other tenant, punk photographer Abbie, and Jamie's best friend Julie, to provide the guidance and role models she feels he needs.
The unpredictable results which aren't always what Dorothea was hoping for, but they bring changes not just for Jamie but for all the women in his life, and William. Because life is messy, complicated, funny, hurtful and never predictable, and we can never truly understand another person. As one of the characters says, whatever you think your life will be like, it won't be like that at all.
The structure of the film does a lot to give a real sense of time and place, with narration filling out the pasts, and futures, of the main protagonists, and plenty contemporary photographs and video to bring punk America to life. There are plenty of memorable scenes too. How often do you see a 15 year old getting beaten up for knowing too much about clitoral stimulation?
The cinematography makes wonderful use of colour and there's a great soundtrack, mixing Benny Goodman with the Buzzcocks, Louis Armstrong and Talking Heads, Bowie and Devo. It's a beautiful film to simply absorb. The screen performances are tremendous as well, Bening is as outstanding as ever, but Greta Gerwig's Abbie is a delight, her outward confidence thinly laid over a sense of fear and confusion.
At a time when the term 'feelgood movie' has come to signify froth and nonsense, here's a film that might just make you feel good about yourself, and what it is to be human. Unmissable.
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