A semi-autobiographical dramedy by graphic designer-turned-film director Mike Mills, Beginners is an effective if somewhat whimsical tale of people learning how to love and be loved — in this case, a father and son in unusual circumstances.
Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a sensitive yet emotionally stunted artist whose parents weren’t a perfect couple. It turns out this was because Oliver’s father Hal (Christopher Plummer) is gay, a fact he announces at age 75, shortly after his wife’s death. Hal is determined to at last live a gay life while he still has time to do so — which happens out to be very little, as he soon learns he has terminal lung cancer.