20th Century Women · reception & legacy
2016 · Mike Mills
How 20th Century Women has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A warmly reviewed but modest-grossing indie in 2016, best remembered at the time for Annette Bening's shocking Oscar snub — since then it's steadily climbed into the beloved-comfort-film tier of the A24 era, especially with younger cinephiles.
What's debated
The evergreen fight is the Bening snub — how did that performance miss a nomination? — plus the friendly cinephile split over whether this or Beginners is Mike Mills's masterpiece.
Its footprint
Endlessly quoted on Letterboxd — 'Wondering if you're happy, it's a great shortcut to just being depressed' — and the Talking Heads-vs-Black Flag 'art punk' debate scene gets referenced any time music-nerd gatekeeping comes up.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd sleeper-favourite: the mother-film people press on friends with 'call your mom after,' quietly canonised without ever being a hit.