A surprise semi-hit at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival for those that saw it — we were happy to read the good word of mouth — Mike Mills’ sophomore feature-film effort, “Beginners,” received good notices earlier this fall.
Another good augur followed quickly, Focus Features picked up the film for U.S. distribution just as the festival was ending. Now the studio has set a June 3, 2011 release date for the picture, possibly trying to replicate the arthouse counter-programming success they pulled off this year with the enjoyable and rich, “The Kids Are Alright” (which is likely going to pull off a Best Picture nomination, you watch).
A semi-autobiographical effort, “Beginners” centers on a 71-year-old father (Christopher Plummer) who comes out of the closet and triggers his son (Ewan McGregor) to explore the honesty of his own relationships. Melanie Laurent from “Inglourious Basterds” also co-stars (a deeper synopsis is here and you can watch clips from the film here), and Sofia Coppola music supervisor and composer Brian Reitzell helped write the score.
Not everyone loved Mills’ guileless debut “Thumbsucker” which introduced us to Lou Taylor Pucci and pulled off the feat of two strong dramatic supporting performances from Keanu Reeves and Vince Vaughn (not to mentioned featured great ones by Tilda Swinton and Vincent D’Onofrio). But we’re big fans and were happy to see some of the more cynical critics warm to it. June’s a long way away and we had
hoped to catch it at TIFF, but alas, we didn’t. Something to look forward to next summer while we wearily navigate the blockbuster minefield.