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| Scene from 20th Century Women |
In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.
20th Century Women
Released: December 28, 2016
Release Number: 45
Directed By: Mike Mills
Starring: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig
Plot: The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.
Major Awards:
Nominated
Academy Awards:
-Best Original Screenplay
Golden Globes:
-Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
-Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)
The year 2016 was a spectacular year for the A24, who released some of their most acclaimed and successful films to date. It helped that it included their first Oscar-winning Best Picture (Moonlight), earned endorsement from Satanists (The Witch), and managed to turn a farting corpse movie into a must see film (Swiss Army Man). It's why it's incredible to note that the studio ended on another high note, albeit one that went a little unnoticed at the time. Director Mike Mills' 20th Century Women was an ode to his mother and the women who raised him in the late 1970's, and featured a great supporting cast that brought the story to life with heart and humor. It was a personal film for Mills, but one whose appeal was just as universal as the best that A24 have released.
Mills is a director whose work is inherently personal by default. His 2011 film Beginners was a fictionalized account of his father's late-in-life coming out story. With that film winning Christopher Plummer an Oscar, it meant that Mills could do anything that he wanted. This ended up being a story this time about his mother, whom he claims was more present in his life. Mills grew up in a maternal environment and found it important to create a story that captured the experience as best as he could. He saw his mother as being more of a trans man, who looked butch and had a personality from another time. She had Mills when she was in her 40's, and had worked extensively during World War II, which was one of the last 20th century periods where women in the work place had a prominence in society. He chose to set the film in 1979 in large part because it was a perceptively feminine time and that it would encapsulate his goals much clearer.
The central cast was a composite of his family, with Annette Bening depicting his mother and Greta Gerwig being a combination of his older and younger sister. Mills would share information with them about his family in order to strengthen their character. He would also cite films from the 30's and 40's as a prominent influence, as his mother was a big fan of Humphrey Bogart. He would watch Stage Door several times with Bening to get the general feel of how he perceived his mother to be. He also borrowed influence of using more experimental styles, such as still photography, from his college days of watching films by French New Wave auteurs like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. During rehearsal, he had the characters embody different aspects of the characters before giving them the script. Elle Fanning, who symbolized the female friends in his life, was told to lie to her co-stars in order to create an understanding of what being dishonest was like. The rehearsal also included a dance party where everyone brought in music that they thought the characters would listen to. Their only request was that they dance, regardless of the song. During this time, it was also encouraged for the actors to teach each other how to dance without being self-conscious. A scene involving Gerwig teaching Lucas Jade Zumann ended up in the film. It was also Fanning and Bening's second film together for A24 following the Freshman class film Ginger & Rosa.
The film was shot in September and October 2015 in Southern California. It was important to Mills for the opening shot to be a Ford Galaxy on fire. He believed that it symbolized the absence of masculinity (i.e. no father) and the decline of Detroit, which were prominent during the era. With the film being autobiographical, Mills felt that he could never fully embody the impact that his mother had on his life, but still felt proud about the results. The cast brought the chemistry that they acquired from rehearsals into their performances. This was most evident in Gerwig's performance, which had her as a photographer. She learned how to take pictures properly. There were other trademarks of the era, including use of President Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech which he felt embodied the lack of patriarchy during the time. In crucial scenes like the dinner table conversation where Gerwig speaks of menstruation, Mills claims it was one of the rare depictions of his older sister, with most of the less sexual moments embodying his younger sister. There were even traces of Mills' actual mother in the film, including the wooden rabbit that she carved after being inspired by Watership Down. The film as a whole was considered to not have a direct structure, and instead was a snippet of this family's life.
The film's distributing rights were acquired by A24 in June 2016 (the film would share these rights with Annapurna, who also co-released Spring Breakers). It would make its premiere at the New York Film Festival a few months later, receiving generally positive reviews. The film was set for a Christmas Day release, but due to a crowded schedule it was moved to December 28. It's a fact that maybe played with its awards chances, as it wouldn't receive a wide release until late January of 2017. With that said, the film's wide release was met with an idea that was relevant to the film's early plot regarding Gerwig's abortion. Because of the changing presidential administration, of which was notoriously against abortion, A24 and Mills decided to donate a fraction of the film's profits during its release to Planned Parenthood. The film was a modest hit, earning $6.7 million on a $7 million budget. In some ways, the film's inability to be a runaway hit compared to most A24 films was likely due to the lack of effective marketing and a crowded sense that pushed its wide release back to begin with.
The film ended up doing pretty well critically, earning an 88% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Most of the praise was for Bening, whose performance as the mother was considered the standout performance and gave her several awards nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Alexandra MacAron of Women's Voices of Change lead the enthusiasm with the belief that "Annette Bening doesn't get as many leading roles as she should. Part of this may be the lack of roles for older women overall. Or, it may be that she holds out for interesting, dimensional characters." Others praised the feel good atmosphere, which included Al Hoff of Pittsburgh City Paper who claimed "It's a warm, wise and funny movie that is heartwarming without being sappy." The few who disagreed tended to side with Richard Brody of New Yorker, who made the remark that "Mills's world is certainly not devoid of pain, but it's leached of bitterness, leached of conflict, leached of aggression, leached of hostility; the pain and the trauma are leached of consequence." The film may have not gotten as much love as other awards contenders like Moonlight nor did it get Bening another Oscar nomination, but it did earn Mills his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
With 2016 over, it's time to look ahead to the next year. It was an incredible period that made the studio's hold on niche indie cinema into a prestigious art form, with each release being highly anticipated. It's not a bad way to go after only 45 films, including several Oscar-winning films. What lied ahead? Well, there was going to be more Oscar-nominated films, including their highest grossing film as of August 2018. For now, 2016 was a year that released 18 films that featured more highs than lows, even as part of its DirecTV branch. But what would lay ahead for 2017? For starters, it would see the return of Michael Fassbender (Slow West) to the A24 brand with a crime drama that looks to start things off with a bang.
Up Next: Tresspass Against Us (2017)
Major Awards:
Nominated
Academy Awards:
-Best Original Screenplay
Golden Globes:
-Best Picture (Comedy or Musical)
-Best Actress (Comedy or Musical)
The year 2016 was a spectacular year for the A24, who released some of their most acclaimed and successful films to date. It helped that it included their first Oscar-winning Best Picture (Moonlight), earned endorsement from Satanists (The Witch), and managed to turn a farting corpse movie into a must see film (Swiss Army Man). It's why it's incredible to note that the studio ended on another high note, albeit one that went a little unnoticed at the time. Director Mike Mills' 20th Century Women was an ode to his mother and the women who raised him in the late 1970's, and featured a great supporting cast that brought the story to life with heart and humor. It was a personal film for Mills, but one whose appeal was just as universal as the best that A24 have released.
Mills is a director whose work is inherently personal by default. His 2011 film Beginners was a fictionalized account of his father's late-in-life coming out story. With that film winning Christopher Plummer an Oscar, it meant that Mills could do anything that he wanted. This ended up being a story this time about his mother, whom he claims was more present in his life. Mills grew up in a maternal environment and found it important to create a story that captured the experience as best as he could. He saw his mother as being more of a trans man, who looked butch and had a personality from another time. She had Mills when she was in her 40's, and had worked extensively during World War II, which was one of the last 20th century periods where women in the work place had a prominence in society. He chose to set the film in 1979 in large part because it was a perceptively feminine time and that it would encapsulate his goals much clearer.
The central cast was a composite of his family, with Annette Bening depicting his mother and Greta Gerwig being a combination of his older and younger sister. Mills would share information with them about his family in order to strengthen their character. He would also cite films from the 30's and 40's as a prominent influence, as his mother was a big fan of Humphrey Bogart. He would watch Stage Door several times with Bening to get the general feel of how he perceived his mother to be. He also borrowed influence of using more experimental styles, such as still photography, from his college days of watching films by French New Wave auteurs like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. During rehearsal, he had the characters embody different aspects of the characters before giving them the script. Elle Fanning, who symbolized the female friends in his life, was told to lie to her co-stars in order to create an understanding of what being dishonest was like. The rehearsal also included a dance party where everyone brought in music that they thought the characters would listen to. Their only request was that they dance, regardless of the song. During this time, it was also encouraged for the actors to teach each other how to dance without being self-conscious. A scene involving Gerwig teaching Lucas Jade Zumann ended up in the film. It was also Fanning and Bening's second film together for A24 following the Freshman class film Ginger & Rosa.
The film was shot in September and October 2015 in Southern California. It was important to Mills for the opening shot to be a Ford Galaxy on fire. He believed that it symbolized the absence of masculinity (i.e. no father) and the decline of Detroit, which were prominent during the era. With the film being autobiographical, Mills felt that he could never fully embody the impact that his mother had on his life, but still felt proud about the results. The cast brought the chemistry that they acquired from rehearsals into their performances. This was most evident in Gerwig's performance, which had her as a photographer. She learned how to take pictures properly. There were other trademarks of the era, including use of President Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech which he felt embodied the lack of patriarchy during the time. In crucial scenes like the dinner table conversation where Gerwig speaks of menstruation, Mills claims it was one of the rare depictions of his older sister, with most of the less sexual moments embodying his younger sister. There were even traces of Mills' actual mother in the film, including the wooden rabbit that she carved after being inspired by Watership Down. The film as a whole was considered to not have a direct structure, and instead was a snippet of this family's life.
The film's distributing rights were acquired by A24 in June 2016 (the film would share these rights with Annapurna, who also co-released Spring Breakers). It would make its premiere at the New York Film Festival a few months later, receiving generally positive reviews. The film was set for a Christmas Day release, but due to a crowded schedule it was moved to December 28. It's a fact that maybe played with its awards chances, as it wouldn't receive a wide release until late January of 2017. With that said, the film's wide release was met with an idea that was relevant to the film's early plot regarding Gerwig's abortion. Because of the changing presidential administration, of which was notoriously against abortion, A24 and Mills decided to donate a fraction of the film's profits during its release to Planned Parenthood. The film was a modest hit, earning $6.7 million on a $7 million budget. In some ways, the film's inability to be a runaway hit compared to most A24 films was likely due to the lack of effective marketing and a crowded sense that pushed its wide release back to begin with.
The film ended up doing pretty well critically, earning an 88% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Most of the praise was for Bening, whose performance as the mother was considered the standout performance and gave her several awards nominations, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Alexandra MacAron of Women's Voices of Change lead the enthusiasm with the belief that "Annette Bening doesn't get as many leading roles as she should. Part of this may be the lack of roles for older women overall. Or, it may be that she holds out for interesting, dimensional characters." Others praised the feel good atmosphere, which included Al Hoff of Pittsburgh City Paper who claimed "It's a warm, wise and funny movie that is heartwarming without being sappy." The few who disagreed tended to side with Richard Brody of New Yorker, who made the remark that "Mills's world is certainly not devoid of pain, but it's leached of bitterness, leached of conflict, leached of aggression, leached of hostility; the pain and the trauma are leached of consequence." The film may have not gotten as much love as other awards contenders like Moonlight nor did it get Bening another Oscar nomination, but it did earn Mills his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
With 2016 over, it's time to look ahead to the next year. It was an incredible period that made the studio's hold on niche indie cinema into a prestigious art form, with each release being highly anticipated. It's not a bad way to go after only 45 films, including several Oscar-winning films. What lied ahead? Well, there was going to be more Oscar-nominated films, including their highest grossing film as of August 2018. For now, 2016 was a year that released 18 films that featured more highs than lows, even as part of its DirecTV branch. But what would lay ahead for 2017? For starters, it would see the return of Michael Fassbender (Slow West) to the A24 brand with a crime drama that looks to start things off with a bang.
Up Next: Tresspass Against Us (2017)
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