What a diasappointing film. Beginners has a lot going for it; its a comedy, highly rated and features an oscar winning performance. However, the film itself is notfunny at all. The only jokes are repeated many times - the childish voices and giving the dog subtitles. These jokes didnt make me smile even once and by the end they were just very annoying. The actors are also very disappointing and none of their characters are very memorable, inuding oscar winning Christopher Plummer. He is undeserving of the award and is defnitealy the weakest performance from any supporting winner I have seen. Perhaps Michael Sheen for Midnight in Paris or Kenneth Brannagh for My Week with Marilyn would be more deserving winners. The direction is very difficult to understand. There are regular montage shots during the film that seem to mostly feature US presidents. The introduction to Christopher Plummer is also a collection of about twenty shots of him in different outfits talking to the camera. Neither of these techniques are neccessary and instead they just confuse the viewer.All in all, a poor film. Not worth seeing for any reason.

I usually don't enjoy such a slow films like this, especially with this drama and topic. McGregor's performance is outstanding. He delivers all kinds of human emotions in a very captivating way. If it wasn't for him the whole movie wouldn't be that interesting. Dealing with difficult long distance relationship and dying relative is hard enough on its own, not mention combined together. Great film.

The thing about watching a movie with a conflicted principal character is that I generally want to kick them in the butt to get them moving in the right direction. Ewan McGregor's Oliver in this story kept spinning his wheels in the relationship with Anna (Melanie Laurent), even when it looked like he might have been having fun. After a while, it began to affect Anna, that's her quote above in my summary line.The one who genuinely knew what he was doing was Oliver's father Hal, wonderfully performed by Christopher Plummer. His was the kind of role in a popular film that forever after makes you wonder if the man is still alive or not, like Burgess Meredith in the 'Rocky' movies. I just looked him up, and he's still going strong at eighty seven, with four movies in post-production.I liked Plummer in this film, his portrayal of a gay man coming out after the death of his wife of forty five years was handled with a sincerity that could have been over the top if handled by a different film maker. My understanding is that writer and director Mike Mills had a similar life experience with his own father which formed the basis of this story. With that understanding, he would have had some valuable insight.Back to Oliver - seriously, you've got to ditch that hideous wall poster of 'Siedem Razy Kobieta'. Even though this was a movie, seeing it hanging in the living room seriously upset my personal feng shui. If you couldn't make the whole thing out, it was the Polish theatrical poster for Shirley MacLaine's film "Woman Times Seven". How that fit into Oliver's life I couldn't tell you, but it caused me some pain.This movie probably won't appeal to everyone. Even today, there's some resistance to the idea of gay characters in film though that's changing daily. As I stated earlier, the subject is handled maturely without being offensive, and the movie fairly conveys a live and let live philosophy. A hint for Oliver, learn to live a little.

For me this movie I would say is a slow discovery into a gray area of human life. Even tough the movie is full with moments of silence it offers surprising moments of laughter, due to, let's call it, an empathic humor. The beginning and the end are connect, each story, of each character unfolds in a very tender way...as if it woun't dare the chance to scare you...somehow.