Fox Searchlight Pictures with Lone Star Film Group present an R rated 113 minute film directed by Tamara Jenkins and starring Laura Linney (Wendy Savage), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Jon Savage), Philip Bosco (Lenny Savage) with Peter Friedman (Larry), David Zayas (Eduardo), Gbenga Akinnagbe (Jimmy), Cara Seymour (Kasia), Tonye Patano (Ms. Robinson), Guy Boyd (Bill Lachman), Debra Monk (Nancy Lachman) and Rosemary Murphy (Doris Metzger).
The film surrounds the intersection of three family members as they come together in a time of need. Lenny lives with his girlfriend, Doris, in Sun City, Arizona in a community for the elderly. Until one day, while having her nails painted a very sexy red, her time ran out in this life. Lenny Savage, having no legal rights to the home in which they lived is then left with no where to go since the home belonged to Doris's family.
Wendy, an aspiring play-wright living in New York City with her cat and dating a married man, Larry, who likes to stop by with his yellow Labrador that suffers from hip dysplasia, Marley, for an afternoon delight, receives word that her father needs help. Not soon after, Jon, a Philosophy Professor teaching theatre in Buffalo and living with his girlfriend, Kasia, who is being deported back to Poland, is notified by Wendy of their fathers impending needs.
They arrive in Arizona and soon thereafter fly back to Buffalo with their father who is suffering from dementia to place him in Valley View, a local nursing home. The story line covers not only the relationships of the three main characters but also the many aspects of planning their fathers future in a home and eventually his death. The film is very real, well written, brilliantly acted and directed filled with not only dramatic moments but humorous banter between the siblings as well over the decisions that must be made and the ways in which they would affect them and their father. It is surely a must see film that covers the realistic alternatives to life before death as we all age in a society run by the young that tend not to care as much for the old. But even though it is a must see, this films content may be to old for the younger demographic and a bit too real for the elderly. Our parents are our care givers when we are in diapers but life has a way of turning the page when the child grows up to one day be changing their parents diapers.
Many nursing homes tend to lose the personal family touch for their residents. When my own grandmother was in a home at the age of 90 and unable to walk or care for herself, every time I went to visit her I too left in tears, much like Wendy when she left her father. My best friend, Jimmy, laid dieing in a home with lack of attention to his bodily needs. Is it the lack of funding or the lack of caring? As a society we tend to make things look pretty from the outside but many times the inside is what gets neglected. Thankfully, in the film and in life the writers reiterated the point that pets visiting or staying at the nursing homes is a comfort for the elderly as well as a huge stress reducer. This film will leave you thinking twice about the decisions we consider not only for our own future but our parents as well.
When Wendy states to her brother about her fathers time, "that's it"? Those two words speak volumes to the meaning of life! Where do we as a civilized society go from "that's it"? For the dead is there a hereafter and for the living do we go back to what we were doing before the passing of our loved ones. Hopefully their lives and their time on earth with us have awakened something within our souls to make a change for the better! As Marley's hip worsened Larry contemplated euthanasia not unlike when our parents become older we consider the final days of their life in a nursing home. I am not saying that all nursing homes are a bad place but rather just saying that they are our parents, grandparents, family, friends, all of which that deserve the comforts of life and death.
The film is touching and believable right down the core of its story line. It may not appeal to the mass audience due to this fact. Overall though, for the audience however small it may be that does appreciate great acting and the realism of life's reflections and decisions as we all get older, this film is worth the 2 hours. Linney, Hoffman and Bosco are all magnificent and draw you into their characters lives as if they were part of our own.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.