Academy Award-winner Christopher Plummer stars in Beginners & participates in post-screening Q&A at The Ridgefield Playhouse
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- Category: Arts and Entertainment
- Published on Friday, 07 September 2012 08:07
- Written by Susan Dumont Bangston
The Ridgefield Playhouse Film Society ”Lost & Found Film Series” will present a screening of Beginners, a 2012 Academy Award winning dramedy starring Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Plummer, at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Saturday, September 8, at 7:30 p.m. The film was written and directed by Mike Mills and tells the story of Oliver (played by Ewan McGregor), a man reflecting on the life and death of his father Hal (Christopher Plummer) while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman (actor Mélanie Laurent) who is dealing with father issues of her own. The film is based on the true-life coming out of director/writer Mike Mills' father when he was 75, five years before his death. Following the film screening, a Q&A with Christopher Plummer will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning television journalist Ira Joe Fisher. This event is sponsored by Cohen and Wolf, P.C., The Ridgefield Press and Sony XDCAM HD.
Christopher Plummer’s performance in Beginners has received numerous industry accolades including an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actor” at the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony. Beginners premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, where the Los Angeles Times heralded it as a "heady, heartfelt film" with a cast who has "a strong sense of responsibility to their real-world counterparts". The film is structured as a series of interconnected flashbacks. After his father Hal (played by Christopher Plummer) dies, Oliver reflects on his relationship with him. Shortly after Oliver’s mother dies, Hal came out and began exploring life as an openly gay man. Hal finds a boyfriend, Andy, and surrounds himself with a circle of gay friends. Hal is then diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Oliver helps care for his dad during his extended illness. Several months after Hal dies, Oliver meets a French actress named Anna, and their relationship begins. Oliver's unresolved emotions around his father's death, along with Anna's conflicted feelings about her emotionally unstable father, initially interfere with their relationship.
The film received numerous positive reviews upon release. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, commenting, "It's a hopeful fable with deep optimism and a cheerful style that kids itself". Beginners won the 2011 Gotham Award for “Best Feature”. In addition to his Academy Award, Christopher Plummer won a 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. He also received the Denver Film Critics Society Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, the National Board of Review Award and the Online Film Critics Award, all for “Best Supporting Actor”.
For reserved seating, ($10 adults, $7.50 seniors, $5 students), call or visit the box office at (203) 438-5795, or go to ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.
