Close up with Mike Mills

The US promo director discusses his brilliant second feature, 'Beginners'

After directing music videos for the likes of Pulp and Air, Mike Mills is now attempting the near-impossible: carving out an American movie career without compromising his principles. After his 2005 debut ‘Thumbsucker’ gained critical plaudits, Mills’s latest film, ‘Beginners’, about a son’s realisation of his dying father’s sexuality, is a comic drama inspired by his own experiences.

You’ve said that ‘Beginners’ was a tough film to finance. Why was that?
‘Well, “Thumbsucker” wasn’t a huge success so it’s not like people were desperate to make a film with me. “Beginners” is non-chronological, featuring an old person who wants to have sex but who’s also dying and a young couple who have problems that aren’t clearly expressed – it’s all bad! Then there’s the historical stuff and the talking dog... Also, the film industry is shrinking. All those things ganged up to make a pretty inhospitable world.’

What made you want to tell such a personal story?
‘Well, I think personal stories can reach out. I love Leonard Cohen and Federico Fellini, people who express very personal or real things. The intention is to share, not to look inward. What happened with my dad was deeply human, filled with things I could write about, that described life on a deeper level.’

You were presumably aware that it risked becoming self-indulgent?
‘That was my big headliner – no self-pity, no narcissism. But I knew I was vulnerable to becoming self-indulgent, particularly with the love story. And because my characters aren’t at war, because they’re white people who look good, there are people who find it hard to empathise. But my intention was to use personal feelings and unresolved emotions to make something authentic.’



Do you think it’s a story that examines self-indulgence, such as the hero’s inability to commit?
‘I wouldn’t describe it that way. I feel like he just hasn’t had enough models to show him how to endure the ambiguities and turbulence of a real relationship. These characters have learned how to be alone, how to be self-sufficient. I don’t think that’s self-indulgence. They want to be with someone, they’re very lonely.’

What do you think the film says about modern life? The characters have a lot of choices, but this is contrasted with Oliver’s parents in the ’50s, who had so few.
‘Well, I think that modern life opens the door for a whole bunch of feelings and ambiguities, things that are both happy and sad, and our culture gives us a language to talk about them forever that my parents didn’t have. But I don’t think it’s easier and I don’t think it’s shameful. It’s just human. My father never talked about his internal life. He marched off to WWII and all that. But when he came out and fell in love at the age of 75, he acted a lot like my contemporary friends. Love brought up all these insecurities, fears and anxieties. But he was now living in a world where that was allowed, where his new friends were requiring him to talk about it. So if it can happen to my dad, it can happen to anybody!’

What did you learn from your father?
‘When my dad came out, he embraced life in a messier way. He presented to me a new model of living. And the new model said: Yes, life’s not like you thought it was going to be, there are a lot of parts to it that don’t feel right, there are things that are out of your control, that are filled with an ambiguity that is impossible to reconcile, but just go with it.’

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