Beginners

Dir. Mike Mills. 2010, 105 mins. 35mm. With Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent. The world of 38-year-old artist Oliver is rocked when his widowed 75-year-old father, Hal, tells him “I am gay.” Hal also has terminal cancer. Mike Mills’s touching, unexpectedly funny drama is centered by Plummer’s assured performance, and by Mills’s sharp, observant script and his inventive direction.