20th Century Women Review

20th Century Women is a coming of age type story that at its core follows three women of varying ages as they deal with life in the 1970s. I'd say it's actually more focused on the young man in their lives Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) as I felt the story was based around him.

The eldest and mother to Jamie, Dorothea (Annette Bening) asks the two other ladies Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and Julie (Elle Fanning) to help raise him since she feels so out of touch. The movie does a great job of exploring key moments in the life of each character and that helps build context of where they're at. Each of them has some extreme issues they're dealing with at the time and it seems to help them when centering their time around Jamie.

This varies from using him for support when they need to discuss something or even teaching him life lessons. It all captures the time quite well and explores many issues that would have affected a vast amount of people in that time at all those different age groups. It's rather intriguing to see and there were some fascinating topics brought up throughout the film.

I certainly enjoyed the acting on all ends as it felt true to the times while also filled with some emotion. I found that each of the women particularly shined while doing their own thing throughout and the roles were well performed.

It would have been nice to have a bit more focus on what exactly the story was aiming to tell though as it seemed to easily just drift along not exactly having a point. Not to say it wasn't enjoyable, I just didn't get the general point of things as it was just the lives of people from that time. The music and setup of scenes was great with some odd characters that showed up at times to keep it fresh which was nice.

The Conclusion

I found that 20 Century Women provided a great look at that time and provided insight into the lives of people at all age groups in the 1970s. It could have used a bit more focus to what the narrative was trying to tell, but still just enjoyable throughout.

I was pleasantly surprised at this one finding it to be an interesting showcase of the times from the setting, to the great music and of course the many wild topics that it explored.

20th Century Women Review at Home with Streamed Viewing
Screening Provided by Elevation Pictures

Rating Overall: 7.5