Beginners

Beginners (2011) is Mike Mills' tender comedy-drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Drawn from the director's own life, it follows a man sorting through grief after his widowed father comes out as gay at 75 and lives more fully than ever in his final years.

Oliver (Ewan McGregor) is a quiet graphic artist still reeling from the loss of his dad, Hal (Christopher Plummer), when he meets Anna (Mélanie Laurent), a French actress, at a costume party. The story weaves three timelines: Oliver's lonely childhood, Hal's late-life blossoming as he falls for a younger man while battling cancer, and the hesitant new romance Oliver almost sabotages out of fear. A wry Jack Russell terrier, whose thoughts appear in subtitles, tags along throughout.

Plummer took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Hal, and it's easy to see why: he plays the man as both giddy and heartbreakingly honest. Mills handles sorrow with collage, hand-drawn cards and voiceover instead of big emotional swells. A gentle film for viewers who prize mood over plot. Stream Beginners (2011) online on iFILM.