Beginners

Beginners is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Mills. It tells the story of a man reflecting on the life and death of his father, while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman dealing with father-issues of her own. The film is based on the coming out of Mills' own father at the age of 75, five years before his death. After its premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Times heralded Beginners as a "heady, heartfelt film" with a cast who have "a strong sense of responsibility to their real-world counterparts". Christopher Plummer received numerous accolades for his performance in the film, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Plot (Throughout the film, scenes of Oliver Fields' memories of his deceased parents are intercut, as flashbacks, into the narrative of his developing relationship with Anna Wallace.) In Los Angeles in 2003, a few months after the death of his father, Hal, from lung cancer, 38-year-old graphic designer Oliver often thinks about his relationship with Hal near the end of his life. Hal had come out to Oliver six months after Georgia, Hal's wife of 44 years and Oliver's mother, died of cancer, and explored life as an openly gay man from the age of 75 until he died four years later. He got active in the local gay community, found love with a much-younger man named Andy, and became closer to Oliver than he had been previously. Oliver helped Hal during his cancer treatments, and he noted the grace, good humor, and, sometimes, seeming-denial with which Hal faced his fate.