Beginners (2010)
Let’s start with the most direct spiritual sibling. Also from writer-director Mike Mills, 'Beginners' is the other side of his autobiographical coin, focusing on his relationship with his father just as '20th Century Women' centered on his mother. The
film follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor) as he reflects on his father (Christopher Plummer, in an Oscar-winning role) coming out as gay at age 75. It shares the same collage-like structure, blending memory, historical footnotes, and heartfelt, funny-sad emotion. It has that signature Mills touch: a tender, non-judgmental look at the beautiful messiness of family and the constant, surprising ways we get to know the people we love.
Aftersun (2022)
If the quiet, aching nostalgia of '20th Century Women' is what lodged in your soul, 'Aftersun' is essential viewing. The film follows an 11-year-old girl on a Turkish holiday with her young father, with the entire story filtered through her fragmented, sun-bleached memories as an adult. Like Mills' film, it’s less about a driving plot and more about the texture of a relationship and the unbridgeable gaps between a parent and child. It captures the bittersweet realization that the adults we love have complex inner lives we can only ever guess at, a theme Dorothea Fields would surely understand.
The Souvenir (2019)
Like '20th Century Women', this film is a deeply personal, semi-autobiographical story about a young woman finding her voice. Director Joanna Hogg revisits her time as a film student in 1980s London, charting a formative and fraught relationship with an older, charismatic man. The film shares a commitment to a specific time and place, where the aesthetic and cultural details are as much a character as the people. It’s a quiet, observational film that, like Jamie’s journey with the women in his life, is about the painful, confusing, and ultimately essential process of learning who you are by observing those around you.
C'mon C'mon (2021)
Yes, it’s another Mike Mills film, but his exploration of intergenerational connection is so singular, it’s impossible to leave off the list. Here, Joaquin Phoenix plays a radio journalist who temporarily takes care of his precocious young nephew. Instead of a mother trying to understand her son, it's an uncle trying to understand a child's entire world. The film is built around genuine interviews with kids across the country, weaving their thoughts into the narrative in a way that feels like a direct evolution of the archival and photographic elements Mills used in his other work. It’s a study in listening—a core tenet of '20th Century Women'.
Captain Fantastic (2016)
This film tackles the idea of unconventional parenting head-on. Viggo Mortensen stars as a father who has raised his six children in isolation in the Pacific Northwest, teaching them survival skills and radical philosophy. When a family tragedy forces them to re-enter mainstream society, their world is turned upside down. It’s a louder, more plot-driven film than '20th Century Women', but it shares a core curiosity about how a parent’s ideology shapes a child. It asks the same fundamental question: what does it take to raise a good, thoughtful human being in a world you don’t fully trust?
Kajillionaire (2020)
For those who appreciate the quirky, art-and-scam-filled world of the Fields' boarding house, meet Miranda July's 'Kajillionaire'. The film follows a family of grifters whose entire existence is a series of low-stakes cons. Their emotionally stunted daughter, Old Dolio, has her world rocked when her parents invite an outsider to join their next scheme. It's a surreal, funny, and ultimately moving story about a young woman realizing the 'found family' she was born into may not be the one she needs. It captures a similar vibe of Californian oddballs trying to find connection in their own strange way.
Eighth Grade (2018)
If Jamie’s awkward, earnest, and often painful journey into young adulthood resonated with you, Bo Burnham’s 'Eighth Grade' is its modern-day spiritual successor. The film is an astonishingly empathetic and anxiety-inducing portrait of 13-year-old Kayla Day during her last week of middle school. It treats the interior life of a young teen with the seriousness and respect it deserves, never punching down. Like '20th Century Women', it understands that the small moments—a pool party, a cringey video, a car ride with a parent—are the crucibles where we’re truly formed. It’s a beautiful, honest look at the terrifying act of just trying to be yourself.
