Going back in time in ‘Beginners’ and ‘The Debt’

Going back in time in ‘Beginners’ and ‘The Debt’
Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in 'The Beginners'. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Going back in time in ‘Beginners’ and ‘The Debt’
Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in 'The Beginners'. Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Going back in time in ‘Beginners’ and ‘The Debt’

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As the famous line goes, “The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.” Two recent films both confirm and challenge that claim. Beginners is the new film from Mike Mills about a young man in mourning for his father’s death and late life change in sexual orientation. It came out earlier this summer but it might worth a second look for those who missed it. The Debt starring Helen Mirren takes us back to the world of cold-war espionage and Nazi hunting. Time-traveling film critic and senior editor at TimeOut Chicago Hank Sartin joined Eight Forty-Eight to talk film. The Debt is out now at various locations, and The Beginners at the Gene Siskel Film Center through next Thursday.