There are so many boutique labels out there that it is hard to keep track of what is coming out from who and when — from Arrow to Umbrella and everything in between, with releases, re-releases, and restorations varying across the board. But, in all reality, Criterion almost always knocks it out of the park on their releases; you’d be hard pressed to find someone argue against this point. Sure, sometimes you might find a higher bit rate later from another label or release, but there is no argument that The Criterion Collection does phenomenal production on their releases. So, when a box set comes along, two questions must be asked (at least for me): (1) is the director dead (meaning it’s a complete workings) or (2) is it something I *need* to own, no questions asked? This brings us to Mike Mills. While he’s still living and has not hinted at retirement anytime soon, the newly-released “I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills” boxset includes three of his features focusing on parenting and relationships, as well as five of his short films. It is a beautiful set with a wonderful booklet included (as with all Criterion releases).

We are going to dive into all three films, but first I want to talk about their packaging. Some box sets, like John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy, the John Cassavetes box set, and the upcoming Stanley Kubrick box set, have everyone throwing in their two-cents on the packaging and style of the design. And here’s mine. I hate this packaging with the passion of a thousand suns, but I hate it less than I hate the packaging Criterion used for the Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 set. I don’t like the dual layered insert plastic digi-book style packaging; it irrationally irritates me simply because the idea of having to lift a corner of a disk (versus pressing the standard center button) and having to then tilt the disk to get the under disk (in this case the accompanying Blu-rays which hold all the special features minus the commentary tracks) out of the case. Sure, the first time you take it out, it’s fine; it’s probably fine the second, third, and fourth time you take it out. But what happens around the 10^th, 20^th, 30^th, time we take the disks out of this housing? I’ve never personally had a disk snap in half trying to remove from this type of packaging, nor have I ever scratched a disk this way, but it just leaves room for mistakes and accidents to happen. When we’re already spending a higher than usual price point on a boutique release, the care we take into how we remove and place disks back into their home should have more thought put into it rather than the standard slightly stacked option presented here. Now, with most Criterion 4K/Blu-ray combo packs, this is still the reality, but the under disk is only covered a very small amount, the firmer plastic is present to pop the disk out, and the removal of disk doesn’t seem as strenuous and more likely to break or get damaged.

Beginners (2010) being the first movie that is included in the I’ll Remind You of Everything trilogy boxset, makes sense as it was Mills’s second feature and truly is the start of this parent/parent figure-child relationship he has developed over the three movies included in this box set. The movie focuses on Hal (Christopher Plummer) coming out at 75 years old, and how his son, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), reacts to the new information, how he processes the information given to him, and how it effects his life. It is, at first, a shock to Oliver as this revelation comes just six months after his mother, who was married to his father for 44 years, has passed away. It causes him to question things like the love his father had for his mother, which is a struggle for him as Oliver, himself, struggles with the ideologies of and concepts of love and connection. He embraces it, though, and wants to learn this more vulnerable side of his father. In a second and just as prominent plot, Oliver meets someone, Anna (Melanie Laurent), shortly after his father passes. As these two stories interweave with each other, changing time periods between before Hal’s passing and after, Oliver is shown to be more open and receptive to love as he learned from his father’s later years. Beginners begins the trajectory of Mike Mills trilogy, flawlessly examining life in the ‘50s and having to hide a secret due to society, only being able to be one’s self when there is no longer a reason not to, and helping the ones we care about discover themselves along the way.

Ewan McGregor as Oliver in BEGINNERS. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

There is something magical and transcendent about Beginners, and it is amplified by the performances throughout the movie. Christopher Plummer (Knives Out), Ewan McGregor (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)), Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) and the dog who speaks through telepathy that the audience gets to read subtitles for, are all incredible in their performances. It is a movie designed to pull at the heart strings and it does just that. None of the movies included in the box set were shot on film, so all these restorations and presentations are digital remasters to 4K UHD which were all approved by Mike Mills, making world premieres of these films in 4K UHD. Beginners looks simply fantastic; nothing is muted or overblown or feels like early digital. It feels modern and warm and just like an embrace from a loved one. Having seen the movie ages ago and not since revisiting, I don’t remember the warmth of the color palette of the movie being so prominent, but there is something transcendent from this transfer that just brings another level of emotional depth to the story that is being told. Maybe because the only other release is from 2011 and the re-release from 2022 was a reprint of that same release, the 4K restoration really bumps up the integrity and warmth of the movie. The moment where Hal reveals to Oliver that he’s gay is brighter, and warmer, and just more lively, and the more subtle moments where Oliver is in a state of crisis talking to the dog feel more somber and heartfelt and endearing. The new restoration truly allows Beginners to have new breath and new life brought to it with this marvelous digital restoration.

Moving forward from a middle-aged man’s realization, acceptance, and own traumatic experiences with love, is Mills’s third feature and second of the box set: 20^th Century Woman (2016). This is another coming-of-age story but, this time, it’s not focused on our protagonist’s father coming out and how he learns from his father how to love himself, but rather a teenager, who’s being raised by a single mom, trying his best to understand where and how he fits into the world with his mother’s unconventional ways.

20^th Century Women focuses on Dorothea (Annette Bening) who gave birth to her son, Jamie (Lucas Jace Zumann), at 40 years old, on her own. She is trying her best to raise him, keep the roof over their heads, and make sure he ends up being respectable and a good kid. However, she cannot do it alone, so she recruits the help of some tenants that rent in her house: Abbie (Greta Gerwig) who is recovering from cervical cancer, and Jamie’s best friend from when they were kids, Julie (Elle Fanning). She awkwardly asks Julie and Abbie to include Jamie in their life and teach him what they’re into, and how to navigate life, and just live in a way as Dorothea doesn’t think she can do it on her own in her now 50s as he’s entering the next stage of his life. It’s a coming-of-age film but told in a different way than audiences typically experience and get to witness. It truly is a testament to Mills’s work that he manages to continuously craft these heartfelt and beautiful stories that are so grounded without feeling complacent in the navigation at all times of life.

L-R: Lucas Jace Zunmann as Jamie and Annette Bening as Dorothea in 20TH CENTURY WOMEN. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

In comparison to Beginners, 20^th Century Women relies so heavily on its cast and their ability to tell this story and bring it to life for the audience. Annette Bening (Mars Attacks!) may have given one of the best performances of her career in the movie, and the cast being rounded out by Greta Gerwig (White Noise), Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value), and Lucas Jace Zunmann (Sinister) brings 20^th Century Women to the absolute best it could be. The care and love Bening presents is breathed in and lived in throughout her performance, the audience just connecting and understanding immediately that this mother cares deeply and wants the best for her child. Due to the way Mills writes and the characters he creates, everyone feels organic; nothing feels contrived and convoluted. So everyone, in a way, gets to be themselves. Sure, they’re following the words given but these characters are real, lived in, and their performances reflect this. They’re down-to-Earth, complicated, but deeply relatable, and if you’re over the age of 20, you most likely have been one of these characters or have known one of them.

This 4K restoration from Criterion is the best the movie has ever looked, and probably ever will. As previously mentioned, since this is a digital restoration, the movies not restored from film stock, just a higher quality more intended picture quality that shines brighter than any previous Blu-ray released. While, again, across all of Mills’s works there are no grandeur VFX outings, the movies don’t need it, and because this film is focused on locations, moments, and characters more, it breathes more. Cinematographer Sean Porter’s (Green Room) work here is just so much more lively and brilliant in this new restoration, allowing audiences to deeper appreciate the dimness and darkness that is shot inside of Dorothea’s home, and even some of the scenes where Jamie and Abbie go to the club, while everything else has this warm fall feeling to the movie, never muddled but never overtly bright or drawn out. It just feels lived in and loved, and the juxtaposition between these darker moments that breath more in the restoration and the warmer moments enhances the story of the movie — Jamie is growing up, learning life, becoming more comfortable with himself, and so forth.

Now we come to the end of the I’ll Remind You of Everything box set. C’mon C’mon (2021) is not only the first Mike Mills film I ever saw, but is my personal favorite. It’s a story that gives hope to a future generation in a world that seems so destined and determined to crush our souls. C’mon C’mon delivers the most impactful and heartfelt Mills movie. The performances he elicits from his cast and the brilliance of the work done by cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Poor Things) make C’mon C’mon a testament to his entire career and this 4K restoration is no exception to that, either.

L-R: Woody Norman as Jesse and Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny in C’MON C’MON. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

C’mon C’mon focuses on radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) as he finds himself between a rock and a hard place with his sister, Viv (Gaby Hoffman), as she deals with a sensitive issue with her husband, Paul (Scoot McNairy), who is trying to get clean. It’s a tricky situation to navigate as Viv and Johnny don’t have the best relationship, but going to help her husband get clean is also no place for her child and Johnny’s nephew, Jesse (Woody Norman). This is where Johnny and Jesse really get started. Johnny agrees to look after Jesse and help his sister out, even though he doesn’t have the slightest idea of how to be a parent or take care of a child, but he wants to make things work and does the best he can. C’mon C’mon is a testament to acting, storytelling, and, thanks to the choice of going monochrome for the film, cinematography, that makes it one of the best movies of Mills’s career and a career highlight for everyone involved.

The real winner here for the 4K restoration is Robbie Ryan’s cinematography in monochrome throughout the entire film. It doesn’t do time jumps with switching palettes or try to differentiate hard and easy times with color, it just sticks to monochrome, showing that while the world may appear black and white, there is a lot of grey. The lack of color and void of distraction from something catching one’s eye are echoed throughout this presentation. Since the film is in monochrome, there aren’t necessarily moments of darkness or brightness that strikes as much as with the new restoration for Mills’s works across this box set, but the subtleties and moments that just breathe more being quieted down by the lack of color and void of distraction from something catching one’s eye are echoed throughout this presentation.

Another aspect of C’mon C’mon which is sometimes overlooked in comparison to the cinematography is the sound design and soundtrack. Johnny is a radio journalist. Sound is so prevalent that it’s almost an extra character in the movie, and, thankfully, unlike the other two movies in the box set, C’mon C’mon gets a Dolby Atmos upgrade which allows this experience to have a new depth to truly captivate the audience even further. When Johnny and Jesse are doing recordings and they’re played back, hearing them come through the speakers is the equivalent of wearing a top-of-the-line headphones and being fully immersed in the world. The inclusion of Dolby Atmos here truly allows C’mon C’mon to breathe in a different way, one that was even deprived at the theatrical level upon release. All three releases are home runs, and C’mon C’mon just might have been the grand slam hit.

I’LL REMIND YOU OF EVERYTHING: THE FILMS OF MIKE MILLS packshot. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.

Overall, Criterion has consistently put out films by singular voices throughout their lifespan, from Bergman to Varda to, more recently, Singleton, Anderson, and, now, Mills, and, coming soon, Kubrick. These transfers in the I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills box set are top-of-the-line and are packed with special features on each disk — each 4K disk contains the commentary tracks and the accompanying Blu-rays have the feature, the commentary, and extra supplements. This box set is one of the best they’ve put out, even if the packaging and design of the hardware that holds the disks leave a little to be desired.

Included in this box set, aside from the special features, short films, and music videos Mills has directed, is an appreciation by Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World; Sentimental Value) and an interview with Mike Mills instead of the traditional essay(s). As far as the features go, each commentary track is done by Mike Mills and provides deep insight into how he creates his script and approaches movies and actors. Atop that is nearly an hour-long conversation with filmmaker Kristen Johnson (available on Beginners) and each movie comes with a making-of and behind-the-scenes features. This truly is the crème of the crop for releases and is a must-buy for any fans of Mills work or for people who just want humanistic movies that will surely hit you right in the feelings.

I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills Special Features

• *NEW* 4K digital masters of Beginners and 20th Century Women, supervised and approved by director Mike Mills, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• *NEW* 4K digital master of C’mon C’mon, supervised and approved by Mills, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
• In the 4K UHD edition: Three 4K UHD discs of the films presented in Dolby Vision HDR and three Blu-rays with the films and special features
• Audio commentaries featuring Mills
• *NEW* documentary featuring Mills in conversation with filmmaker Kirsten Johnson
• Making-of programs
• Music videos directed by Mills for Air’s “All I Need” and Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”
• Short films by Mills: Deformer (1996), Eating Sleeping Waiting and Playing (1999), The Architecture of Reassurance (2000), A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought Alone (2013), and I Am Easy to Find (2019)
• Trailers
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An appreciation by filmmaker Joachim Trier and an interview with Mills
• *NEW* cover by Mike Mills and Osk

Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray July 28^th, 2026.

For more information, head to the official The Criterion Collection I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills webpage.

Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation

Tags: 20th Century Women, 4K UHD, A24, Annapurna Pictures, Annette Bening, Archer Gray, Be Funny When You Can, Beginners, Billy Crudup, C'mon C'mon, Christopher Plummer, comedy, Criterion Collection, drama, Elle Fanning, Ewan McGregor, Gaby Hoffmann, Goran Višnjić, Greta Gerwig, home release, home video, I’ll Remind You of Everything: The Films of Mike Mills, Jaboukie Young-White, Joaquin Phoenix, Lucas Jade Zumann, Mélanie Laurent, Mike Mills, Modern People, Molly Webster, Olympus Pictures, Parts & Labor, romance, Scoot McNairy, Woody Norman