03Sep
Fast Forward
Preparing for the physical changes that aging will bring is not something most of us think about. Accepting the physical changes that aging will bring is not something most of us want to think about either.
All Film Reviews
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03Sep
I Cannot Tell You How I Feel
There have been scads of documentaries made about the experiences of adult children helping their aging parents make the transition from independent living to accepting various levels of assistance. It’s a universal theme in modern human life. The documentaries range from boring and factual, to intensely and graphically personal. I Cannot Tell You How I Feel takes a different approach—one that is visually engaging and highly entertaining, but skimpy on a coherent storyline.
03Sep
Age of Adaline
Age of Adaline is a well-crafted film that presents viewers with a fantasy that many entertain—living without aging.
03Sep
Alzheimer’s: What You Can Do (Part 1 of 2)
The presentation method and level of depth of Alzheimer’s: What You Can Do seem designed for general audiences seeking an update on recent treatment trends for AD and, perhaps, some encouraging news regarding progress in delaying or curing the disease.
01Sep
Determined: Fighting Alzheimer’s
Determined: Fighting Alzheimer’s introduces us to a remarkable and dynamic longitudinal study begun in 2001 that tracks a community-based sample of adult children with parents diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
10Aug
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
With its central premise of a pharmacological solution for memory restoration, the Apple TV series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (Bahrani et al., 2022) is the most recent and detailed exemplar of the second narrative category.
10May
The Great Escaper
Based on a true story, the film details the efforts of 89-year-old WW2 British Navy veteran Bernard Jordan to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France.
10Feb
Helping an Aging Parent: A Forty-Year Perspective Across Generations
Helping an Aging Parent is structured neatly into two halves; the first incorporates excerpts from the 1983 and 1990 films and establishes the three generations of the Honel family.
30Nov
80 for Brady
“It’s better than I expected it to be.” That’s what I said to my wife after we finished watching 80 for Brady. From the preview clips (which one should never trust), I expected some ditzy rendition of four older women friends taking a trip to see their hero, Tom Brady, play in the Super Bowl.
31Oct
Alzheimer’s: What You Can Do (Part 2 of 2)
Alzheimer’s: What You Can Do presents a lifestyle treatment model designed to reduce multiple personal risk factors correlated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
19Oct
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
With an acerbic script by British writer Katy Brand and Australian director Sophie Hyde at the helm, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande has a modest premise.
19Sep
Juniper
New Zealand feature film Juniper (Saville, 2021) represents an intriguing variation on the form.
13Jul
Old
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.
21Jun
Lousy: Love in the Time of Dementia
This brief, thoughtful, and intriguing video by Frank Silverstein shares 3 years of visits with his parents, Joe and Lynn Silverstein, as they age-in-place in their home.
15Jun
Being 97
This thought-filled, evocative video focuses on Herbert Fingarette, 97-year-old grandfather of videographer Andrew Hasse.
15Jun
Inga
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.