Good Thing Sixteen: Beginners

My favorite film of the year. . . because despite centering around a guy who is so quiet and so cut off from his feelings--or, at the very least, his ability to express them--it's a movie entirely about love in all of its forms.


Romantic love. Familial love. Love of animals and their returned affection. Love of the world and history and mysteries. In my world, creativity and its expression is also love.

And while having a bad year, Beginners felt like it was commiserating with me. But I was also jealous of how much time all of the characters had to explore each each other and themselves. It was like a fantasy of what life should be like--taking the time to know your parents, taking the time to fall in love, getting to take your dog with you everywhere you go.

I've been letting work eat me alive now for years, and I think Beginners has reminded me to slow it down. Beginners may be my only New Years resolution in 2012.



Thank you, Mike Mills. Really. I mean it.