Sunday, January 1, 2017

ANNETTE BENNING STARS IN MIKE MILL'S 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, AN HOMAGE TO LATE 70s FEMINISM

HIGHLY PERSONAL DRAMA FEATURES A STELLAR CAST IN FINELY DETAILED DRAMA

20th Century Women: Now in limited release beginning Weds Dec. 28. Opens nationwide January 20.

Film in World Premiere as Centerpiece Gala Screening of the 54th New York Film Festival

Story and NYFF photo by Dwight Casimere

 Annette Benning as Dorothea Fields and (r) Lucas Jade Zumann as her 15 year old son, Jamie
Annette Benning (second from right) with the cast of 20th Century Women and Director Mike Mills (second from left) at the New York Film Festival in October

NEW YORK--20th Century Women is director Mike Mill's third feature film, and like his previous film, "Beginner's," which earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe for its star, Christopher Plummer,  it is highly personal and autobiographical. The film is already generating Oscar buzz, particularly for its star, Annette Benning, as Dorothea Fields, a chain-smoking, free-spirited single mom in 1979 Santa Barbara, who enlists the aid of a a pair of forward thinking women,  her tenant, Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a  24 year old photographer, who documents everything, including the mundane posters in her son's room,  and her neighbor, Julie (Elle Fanning), a 17 year old who enjoys a cozy, platonic relationship with her moody, punk music obsessed 15 year old son, Jamie (played with disarming charm and candor  by Chicago-area actor Lucas Jade Zumann).

 A brilliant ensemble cast, a killer sound track and a story line that Mills says is based on his experience growing up with his own mother, makes this an engrossing film that, in many ways, is a spot on portrayal of a set of characters in a specific place and time period . Its also a beautifully crafted example of a master filmmaker and storyteller at work. 

20th Century Women
from A24 Films
158 minutes
Limited release December 28
Nationwide release January 20



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