Any movie that features Talking Heads and Greta Gerwig prominently can’t be a complete miss, and after enjoying Mike Mills’ previous feature Beginners, I couldn’t wait to see what he did with my band crush and girl crush in 20th Century Women. The film reads more as a love letter to the director’s mother than a typical coming-of-age narrative, acting as a companion piece to Beginners, which also draws on autobiography to explore parent/child relationships (in this case, a graphic designer coming to terms with his father’s homosexuality and terminal illness). However, the voiceover narration, flashbacks, and found footage which, while on the twee side, worked quite well in Beginners, are less effective here.

This may stem from the fractured focus of 20th Century Women, which is more of an ensemble effort than Beginners. Mills relies on voiceover narration for much of the film’s exposition, and with so many characters, this exposition lasts for at least a third of the film, interrupting its momentum. And while the performances are believable, Mills’ narration in the mouths of these 20th century women and men isn’t, probably because they are so clearly the words of a millennial with a knowledge of what the future holds. The use of flashbacks is also jarring, especially when these flashbacks transition into flash-forwards without warning; often, the only clue that we’ve jumped forward in time is the car that Dorothea (Annette Bening) is driving. The found footage and photos don’t pose such obvious structural problems, but they feel more like a gimmick than a service to the narrative without the graphic design connection of Beginners. They also, like the voiceovers, tended to remove me from the action of the film. For example, when Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) goes to a concert in L.A. with his friends, the action is intercut with images that look like they came straight out of The Decline of Western Civilization (which they probably did). And as great as those images are, I would have preferred more immediacy.

I suppose my main problem with the film is this lack of immediacy. At every turn, Mills seems to be pointing out that this film is a nostalgia piece, that he is looking back. This seems like overkill in a film that manages to capture so well the tone of the late 1970s without resorting to caricature. Mills gets the 70s just right by not getting them too spot on, employing characters from different generations and with varying degrees of hipness. Abbie (Greta Gerwig), as a photographer straight from the New York punk scene, is the most of her time, but as she interacts with former hippie William (Billy Crudup), out-of-her-element mother Dorothea, and blank slate teenagers Jamie and Julie (Elle Fanning), a complex portrait of the period emerges that goes beyond nostalgia to reach truth. I found myself cringing every time I was removed from this world by the illogically prescient narration of its characters.

Despite some stylistic issues, however, the authenticity of 20th Century Women shines through. This is largely due to the standout performances of Greta Gerwig, Annette Bening, and Elle Fanning, but I have a hunch that much credit goes to the real-life women and events that inspired the film’s director. The plot is unpredictable and avoids sentimentality (I was afraid for a moment that it would descend into a sappy narrative in which Julie gets pregnant and gives her baby to infertile Abbie, but, thank goodness, we were spared) and manages to feel like real life. Mills also avoids making his stand-in, Jamie, the center of attention. His problems pale in comparison to those of the women around him, letting Dorothea, Julie, and Abbie emerge as complex, flawed, and lovable characters. And since this seems to be what Mills wants to show us, the film is ultimately successful.