{"id":36029,"date":"2016-06-20T06:03:13","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36029"},"modified":"2016-06-20T06:03:13","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T13:03:13","slug":"challenge-week-24-beginners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/challenge-week-24-beginners\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 24: Beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry, this is probably going to be a short one. I just don’t have a lot to say about this movie. It’s about Oliver (Ewan McGregor) whose elderly father Hal (Christopher Plummer) comes out as gay after his long-time wife dies. The movie actually mostly takes place after his father also dies, as McGregor tentatively starts a new relationship with actress Anna (Melanie Laurent). The story is told in multiple layers of flashback, as Oliver deals with the deaths of his parents and the extra surprise of his father’s sexuality.<\/p>\n

\"tf-bookstore\"<\/p>\n

Christopher Plummer is tremendous as Hal, very enjoyable to watch (and his Oscar win is well-deserved), but Ewan McGregor often leaves me a little cold, and that’s the case here. I got that we’re sort of juxtaposing Hal’s late-life vitality and unbridled enthusiasm about his new life as a gay man with Oliver’s hesitation at embracing what he’s found in Laurent, and it’s not that the story isn’t well done, it just didn’t really grab me that much.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And some of the gimmicks, like the subtitles for the dog (and the dog in general) and Anna’s whole schtick with the notepad were just a little overly cutesy. I mostly liked McGregor’s “this is what this was like in this time period” voiceover interstitials – they gave a sense of historical context to this story – but sometimes they kind of annoyed me. Especially added with the other cutesy things. The film hit about the middle of my Flickchart, which seems fair for something that I didn’t dislike, found pleasant enough (especially when Christopher Plummer was on screen, and to a lesser extent Melanie Laurent), but just found fairly forgettable.<\/p>\n

\"tf-bookstore2\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

2010, USA<\/em>
\nwritten and directed by Mike Mills<\/em>
\nstarring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Melanie Laurent<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Beginners<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

Beginners<\/b> > Torn Curtain
\nBeginners < Now, Voyager<\/b>
\nBeginners < A Corny Concerto<\/b>
\nBeginners < The Murder Man<\/b>
\nBeginners < Giant<\/b>
\nBeginners < Cache<\/b>
\nBeginners < The Glenn Miller Story<\/b>
\nBeginners<\/b> > Something in the Air
\nBeginners<\/b> > The Blue Angel
\nBeginners<\/b> > The Last Hungry Cat
\nBeginners < L\u00e2\u20ac\u2122auberge espagnol<\/b><\/p>\n

Final #1804 out of 3658 films on my chart (51%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #1 Mike Mills film, my #6 Ewan McGregor film, my #8 Christopher Plummer film, my #2 Melanie Laurent film, my #58 film of 2010.<\/p>\n

Beginners<\/em> was recommended by Rachel Gilbert, a friend from the Flickcharters group on Facebook.<\/p>\n

A few quotes…<\/h3>\n

Hal:<\/b> I don’t want to be just theoretically gay. I want to do something about it.<\/p>\n

Hal:<\/b> …let’s say since you were little, and… and you… you always dreamed of… of someday getting a lion, and you wait and you wait and you wait and you wait, and the lion doesn’t come. Then along comes a giraffe. You can be alone, or you can be with the giraffe.
\nOliver:<\/b> I’d wait for the lion.
\nHal:<\/b> That’s why I worry about you.<\/p>\n

Anna:<\/b> Why do you leave everyone? Why did you let me go?
\nOliver:<\/b> Maybe because I… I don’t really believe that it’s gonna work, and then I make sure that it doesn’t work.<\/p>\n

Elliot:<\/b> What was that?
\nOliver:<\/b> Historical consciousness. Something bigger than myself.<\/p>\n

Anna:<\/b> I used to love hotels. Now I’m always in a new apartment or in another hotel somewhere.
\nOliver:<\/b> How do you keep hold of friends? Or boyfriends?
\nAnna:<\/b> Makes it very easy to end up alone. To leave people.
\nOliver:<\/b> You can stay in the same place and still find ways to leave people.<\/p>\n

Anna:<\/b> You look so unhappy.
\nOliver:<\/b> Well are you happy? Here?
\nAnna:<\/b> Maybe I’m not perfect at it. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I want to be here.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-talkingwithdog\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-dadatcamera\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-bridge\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-leavepeople\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-dadandlover\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-dadstanding\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry, this is probably going to be a short one. I just don’t have a lot to say about this movie. It’s about Oliver (Ewan McGregor) whose elderly father Hal (Christopher Plummer) comes out as gay after his long-time wife dies. The movie actually mostly takes place after his father also dies, as McGregor tentatively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3150,3153,3151,3154,3152],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tf-hotel.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":820,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2007\/11\/trailer-watch-highly-anticipated\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":0},"title":"Trailer Watch – Highly Anticipated","author":"Jandy","date":"November 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Haven't done a trailer watch for a while. Most of the things I'm most interested in, especially this time of the year, are limited release films, and it feels weird to plug them when they come out when I know that I and most everyone I know won't be able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/august-recap\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":1},"title":"August Recap","author":"Jandy","date":"September 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Movies Night Watch (imdb) This was Russia's entry to the Academy Awards in 2005, and judging from that and the trailers I'd seen, I was really hoping it would be great. It's the first of a proposed trilogy dealing with the on-going supernatural battle between good and evil, fought unseen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books and Reading"","block_context":{"text":"Books and Reading","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36498,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-45-triangle\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 45: Triangle","author":"Jandy","date":"November 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't talk TOO much about this without spoiling it - in this case, it's very much recommended to go in totally blind, which I did, aside from knowing that it was something of a mindbender and had some horror and possibly sci-fi elements. It all hinges on a young\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-triangle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":30248,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/scorecard-january-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":3},"title":"Scorecard: January 2012","author":"Jandy","date":"February 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This was a pretty dismal month in terms of movie-watching, but since I was filling my time with things like getting married and going on honeymoons, I guess I can forgive myself for slacking off in the movie department. Got through six new-to-me films this month, including a few new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Haywire.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35078,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/previewing-the-2015-tcm-classic-film-fest\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":4},"title":"Previewing the 2015 TCM Classic Film Fest","author":"Jandy","date":"March 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sixth Annual TCM Classic Film Festival is nearly upon us - four glorious days of immersion in classic film in the heart of Hollywood along with hundreds of our fellow classic film fans. It's the best time of the year for those of us who love Hollywood's golden era\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "TCM Film Festival"","block_context":{"text":"TCM Film Festival","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/tcm-film-festival\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/TCM-Film-Festival-2015.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36497,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-44-condorman\/","url_meta":{"origin":36029,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 44: Condorman","author":"Jandy","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What a fun little adventure espionage movie! Woodrow Wilkins is a cartoonist who likes to test real-life costumes for his comic book character Condorman. Also, his best friend is a CIA desk agent who ends up asking Woody to do an innocuous civilian exchange for the agency. Only Natalia, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-condorman.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}