Rope of Silicon: Love for Beginners

Rope of Silicon’s Bill Cody begins his Interview with Mike Mills with a candid expression: “love, love writer/director Mike Mills' new film Beginners and I really hope I do it justice with this article.” Such unvarnished enthusiasm is a fresh journalistic approach, But Cody goes out of his way to justify his love –– talking about the performances, Mill’s script, and, of course, Cosmo the dog. In referring to Mills’ narrative trick of having the dog talk in subtitles as a projection of Oliver’s (Ewan McGregor) thoughts, Cody understands:

If you've ever been close with a pet you'll immediately understand the illusion the director is creating. It is both clever and revealing. More importantly, it works.

It’s great that Cody also gets Mills’ remarkable film blog: “FYI Mills' film blog is a terrific read as well. He's even got a link to a film clip of Alexander Calder's Circus. That alone is the price of admission.”