FREE ON CINEGEEK.De 20Th Century Women 

55-year-old chain-smoking Dorothea, who wears Birkenstock, has just come out of depression - as her 15-year-old son Jamie explains. Depression must be something of a parallel universe for him. She is the ruler of a muddle household open to every guest. She tries all her life to find out what is REALLY going on. She loves to have parties for her friends and tries to digest the cultural changes since her youth. Annette Bening gives Dorothea and there can only be one opinion about this role: It's the best in Benning's entire career! The same goes for Mike Mill's wonderful comedy (his third film). 20th Century Women plays in Santa Barbara in the late 70s. Jimmy Carter is president and there are two new movements: Punk and skateboarding. Dorothea had her son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) at 40 and raised him alone. Then there's Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a redheaded photographer who suffered from cancer, and William (Billy Crudup), who still talks in hippie slang (he uses words that are unfortunately reused today like "energy"). Jamie's girlfriend's name is Julie (Elle Fanning). She's a depressed and confused girl. She sleeps "platonically" with Jamie (who in turn is overwhelmed with his hormonal balance). In a kind of panic attack, Dorothea decides that a single mother may not be enough for Jamie. So she asks Abbie and Julie to share their lives. Nobody knows exactly how this is supposed to work, least of all Abbie and Julie. Nevertheless, they agree. So Abbie takes Jamie to punk clubs and gives him hard feminist literature to read. Jamie believes in it and at least fights with a schoolmate. Trigger: Stimulation of the clitoris. Poor Jamie, surrounded by eccentric, difficult women! Completely confused, he tells his mother that he would like to be there for all of them, a "good boy". The special thing about 20th Century Women is the fact that they are not quirky in a bizarre sense, but resemble real people. In fact, the film makes us feel like we know these women! It is a coherent portrait of a group of people at a certain point in time: how they talk, what music they hear, what they eat. Fortunately, there is no plot that dominates too much! The figures get air to breathe, can unfold. Just like real people: A little crazy, annoying, complex and beautiful!