Old can be interpreted as a parable of the inevitable trajectory of human life on this earth. The film obviously plays on humanity’s nearly universal fear of aging and dying.
Inga opens and ends with two major entries (Kapitels or “chapters”) she writes in her journal. The first and briefer is “Love.” In her poetic vocal narrative, she offers her views of love’s evolving meanings and changing phases across the life span.
I am in awe of this film.
Every so often a film comes along that is highly entertaining to watch and is also a wonderful vehicle for exploring and presenting several elderhood and aging-related issues.
By speaking publicly and frankly about sexuality, Dr. Ruth Westheimer helped untold numbers of individuals overcome impediments to healthy sexual pleasure. The new film, Ask Dr Ruth, chronicles her long life, from her early childhood in Germany, to her current very active professional life.
In Go Gentle, the scope through which we view time is entirely different from that presented in Recorder. Ninety-year-old Shirley Rosenthal talks openly and calmly about accepting the end of her life.
An older wealthy tycoon (played by Jack Nicholson) dates only younger women until he meets the mother of one of them (yes, played by Diane Keaton) and eventually realizes what he’s been missing in a relationship.
Saving the worst for last, the sequel film, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel should only be seen if you have exhausted every other diversion available to you.
Friend Request Pending is a refreshingly unique short-sketch film that features a few hours in the life of an older woman making an online connection with a desirable man.
In Five Flights Up, a long-married couple faces the decision to sell their five-story walkup in New York City. Alex (Morgan Freeman) and Ruth (Diane Keaton) have lived their entire married life together in this apartment walkup and are now finding it more difficult to deal with the stairs.
In the film, Last Vegas (Turteltaub, 2013), four older men romp like frat boys in Vegas while a paper thin plot resurrects a past grievance between two of them.
The premise of the film has potential; five older longtime friends move into one house in order to support each other in the face of a variety of health issues.
In the recently released, This Is 40, we are shown a week in the lives of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) who are both turning 40. Debbie’s method of dealing with this is flat-out denial, whereas Pete is fine with a party for himself.
The recent feature film, Trouble with the Curve, portrays a different concern with the effects of aging. An alternative title for this film could have been Trouble with Aging. Clint Eastwood plays a crusty ill-tempered oldster (just as he did a few years ago in Gran Torino).
Mark Wexler’s odyssey in How to Live Forever is an energetic, sometimes serious, sometimes amusing, but always interesting popular culture panorama about humankind’s efforts to extend both active and maximum longevity.