There's a sort of sadness in happiness but the same thing for a certain joy in misery. When your down a sudden occurrence can change your mood and things look bright again. Maybe your happy but in a second you've lost everything. Some people find solace in sadness and others look to screw up their happy life. The film is based on true events in the life of director/writer Mike Mills. So of course you know he'll knock it out of the ball park with this story. His alter ego or alias is Oliver (Ewan Mcgregor doing his best performance to date) and he's at a strange stage in life. His father Hal (The Oscar worthy Christopher Plummer) comes out of the closet to his son late into his life. Hal was married to Georgia (Mary Page Keller) for 44 years until she died from cancer. A couple months later he decides to live openly gay and tells this to his son. The gay news doesn't bother him, it's the marriage issue. He wonders if they were in love and what the marriage meant to them. Hal meets Andy (GoranVisnjic) and Oliver says "it's the first time I ever really saw him in love."He supports his father especially when it turns out Hal also has cancer. Hal passes on (not a spoiler, you'll see why) and several months later Oliver meets Anna (a fantastic and beautiful Melanie Laurent) and the two hit it off. The two don't just share cute scenes but we see them fall in love on screen. There's some magic to the two's chemistry. Oliver and Anna will run into problems because of Oliver's past. He never thinks things will work out and sometimes steers these events to disaster. Anna has her own problems as we all do. The problems and feelings they face are real. Mike Mills felt them and his emotion comes through the screen to effect the audience.
This is truly a marvelous film. I loved every second of it. The film blends scenes with Anna to those with Hal and even at times show's a documentary side. Oliver explains factual events with real footage (Harvey Milk and Time Magazine naming Hitler 1938's Man of The Year for example) and how they relate to his life. These events affected his father's and mother's wife so they in turn affected him. His life was shaped on how his parents raised him and it shows in sublime ways. Oliver's problems are easy to understand and feel as well. The film has a magic to it that plot elements that you may never feel in your life time are easy to sympathize with it. I don't know if it will change your life, but this movie should be on the list of possibilities. Oliver meets Anna at a party when she has laryngitis and has to use a notepad to communicate. She writes "Why come to a party when you're so sad?" It's a brilliant scene to a film that matches it.
10/10
Recommendation: It's a thinker but since I gave it such a high rating why wouldn't I say see it as soon as you can?
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