Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

20th Century Women

Writer/director Mike Mills tackles 1979 in this exploration of the life of a single mother and her struggles to raise her teenage son. Annette Bening delivers one of her finest performances as the emotionally isolated mother who doesn’t want her son (Lucas Jade Zumann) to turn out like her and enlists the help of his best friend (Elle Fanning) and another woman (Greta Gerwig) who lives in the same house as they, under the watchful eye of the landlord (Billy Crudup).

Skillfully written, the film is one of the jewels of 2016, left at the curbside by a number of other films that explore deeper, supposedly more resonant subjects. Mills does excellent work with this knowing screenplay that tackles women’s issues in a unique and contemporary way while feeling part-and-parcel of the era in question. The cast is superb and deserved far more recognition than they received.