20th Century Women

20TH CENTURY WOMEN (15)

D: Mike Mills

A24/Annapurna (Anne Carey, Megan Ellison & Youree Henley)

US 2016

118 mins

Comedy/Drama

W: Mike Mills

DP: Sean Porter

Ed: Leslie Jones

Mus: Roger Neill

Annette Bening (Dorothea Fields), Greta Gerwig (Abbie Porter), Elle Fanning (Julie Hamlin), Lucas Jade Zumann (Jamie Fields), Billy Crudup (William)

Writer-director Mike Mills brings this semi-autobiographical story to the screen, set in 1970's Santa Barbara, starring Annette Bening as a single mother who runs a boarding house, and enlists the help of her tenants to help raise her son in a world she no longer recognises or understands.

The performances of the three principal actresses are fantastic, and their characters are well fleshed out by Mills, but the overall result could have done with being about 20 minutes shorter.

6/10