If you are a fan of writer/director Mike Mills' work, then you already know that this is his follow up to Beginners. Highly recommend watching both 20th Century Women and Beginners to see the two emotional films dedicated to the lives of his mother and father, respectively.

A great Mike Mills film. Beginners is strong but this flick has a great cast and a great score.

Set in the 1970s, an aging, single mom (Annette Bening) sees the need to help her teenage son grow up with a stronger sense of manliness. She feels inadequate for the job; so she recruits 2 acquaintances, a promiscuous teen age girl and an starving artist type of young woman to help. The son has strong romantic feelings for the teenage girl, who rather uncharacteristically can only relate to the boy as a platonic friend. The impoverished, artistic young woman hasn't put her own life in order, much less help anybody else. This is a gentle comedy about clueless but well meaning women and a girl offering help to a boy about his masculinity. They offer no real help beyond wanting to offer help, but that seems to be enough for good results.

As a 25-year-old multiracial male, a film centered around three white women of varying ages in the end of the 70's may not seem like it's up my alley, but this film moved me beyond description. I have a difficult time summarizing exactly how I feel about it, but know that it is a near masterpiece, and yet another underappreciated gem of 2016, along with Silence. Annette Bening gives an Oscar worthy performance, and everyone in the cast is great as well. The music, the cinematography, both great. Where this film shines is in its writing and its sense of time and place. Its a wonderful film to let wash over you.

This is a wonderful story and realistic. It doesn't move fast and jump around quickly like so many current movies, there is a lot of dialog which is refreshing, more like European movies. The focus is on the characters not action and all of the actors do a wonderful job.