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Beginners

By Golu
A pretty good indie film with art-house character study, embellishes some great performances from its lead characters. Mad win s a very small budget. Christopher Plummer deservingly won the academy award for his supporting role in this film. The story of the film is very simple and straight forward.

The first half of the movie focuses on Oliver and his ailing father. After his mother's death, Oliver's father told him 2 things: first he has cancer and second he is gay. Oliver is shocked but he still tries to keep his calm and understand his father. Apart from his father's lover, he is always there for his father whenever he needs it, be it for any gay party, gay events or just taking care of him. We see a lot of incidents that Oliver and his father spend time with each other striving to cultivate their relationship and grow it. We also see Oliver's childhood in flashback where the parents are attempting to make the best of their marriage of convenience. After his father's death, Oliver tries to make a meaningful relationship with a french actress who is beautiful but has serious commitment issues. How do they sort it out in the end is something to watch for.

The film is slow and a a little confusing at times but it stand sour only for its performances.Oliver by Ewan McGregor speaks less and acts with his eyes showing us how sad and lonely he is. The relationship graph between Oliver and his gay ailing father is done greatly and with such empathy.. You feel like you are there and all Oliver has his father because he neglects everything else to be with him and now after he is gone, Oliver is all alone. That said, the film is not without its shortcomings. The plot peels its layer in a very different manner and after a while it is not too difficult to lose interest. And the whole girlfriend angle also needed to be explained better.

Watch it for excellent performances and a good indie flick. (5.5/10)
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