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All Film Reviews

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11Feb

Will Power

Will Power is a film about a saddening and dissolving family occurrence. Videographer and narrator Tom Garber shares with us his involvement in a contentious legal battle between himself and his siblings over opposing inheritance claims made on the family homeplace following the death of their parents.
11Jan

The Disappearance of My Mother

Some of the best films are created when an adult child attempts to understand the life of a parent by interacting with them from behind the camera. In The Disappearance of My Mother, the parent is not happy with being filmed.
11Dec

Dick Johnson is Dead

Rarely have I seen a film that looks at our human mortality as creatively and playfully as this one does. Before you turn away from reading any further about a subject so off-putting as death, let me say: See this film! It is not what you think it will be. I was avoiding even considering this film to review or see; the brief descriptions of it made it sound too grotesque.
11Dec

Lolly Font, Yoga Rebel

Good things come in small packages—and brief ones as well. Though a short film, Lolly Font: Yoga Rebel has strong relevance for gerontological theorists, researchers, and educators, particularly those interested in the evolving meanings of successful aging. Director Liz Cane introduces us to 84-year-old Lolly Font, a yoga teacher nearing the end of her instructional career.
11Nov

Fear of Falling: A Matter of Balance

Fear of Falling opens with scenes of common possible hazards in the everyday environments of older adults, including stairs, escalators, carpets and rugs, sidewalks in disrepair, and bathtubs with slippery surfaces. The film’s major premise is expressed in Rooseveltian terms by host Elayne Letraunik: “Sometimes the fear can be just as dangerous as the thing that we’re afraid of.”
11Nov

Elder Voices: Stories for These Times

At the outset of Elder Voices, we are immediately embroiled in a series of modern social tragedies that have become all too familiar in the United States in the last couple of decades. We hear tearful voices on the emergency calls made by victims and observers of mass shootings.
11Nov

The Mole Agent

Have you ever wished to be a “fly on the wall” in a residential care facility so you could observe the kind of care being given to a family member, or just to see the kind of dynamic being played out between residents and staff? Watching The Mole Agent will give you a sense of what that would be like.
11Sep

Last Flag Flying

Last Flag Flying takes place in 2003—the year that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was captured and sentenced to hang. The film opens with Vietnam War veteran Larry “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) walking into a nearly empty bar on a rainy night. He orders a beer from the brash-sounding bartender and after some brief conversation with him, says, “You don’t remember me, do you?”
11Jul

A Secret Love

Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel met in 1947 while playing hockey in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. They were immediately attracted to each other and soon formed a lifelong partnership that lasted for 72 years. A Secret Love engagingly tells the story of their relationship formed during a time when same sex couples were extremely vulnerable to societal scorn and persecution, and family rejection.
11Jul

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project

Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project triggers viewers to reflect on the meaning of preserving the broader cultural memory of an entire society for 33 years through the video recordings of 24-hr news programs.
11Jul

Ageless

At last. From 2012 to the present, we have reviewed more than four dozen documentary films dealing with several major topics in gerontology and adult development, and aging. Though not excluded by intention, nowhere among those films was one devoted specifically to ageism.
11Jun

My Claire

My Claire is a very brief feature (cinematic) film about Henry, an elderly man trying to cope with the recent death of his beloved spouse, Claire. At its onset, we are immediately made aware that this film deals with death, grief, and mourning. Henry is having a tough time of it
11Jun

Ordinary Love

Rarely does a major motion picture come along that captures the nuanced and everyday character of the love between long-married couples. When movies do tell the love stories of older adults, they usually fall back on the commonly sought-after romantic stories of new love.
11Jun

Fighting for Dignity

Fighting for Dignity, directed by Eilon Caspi and Judy Berry, is a provocative, and, at times, shocking video about injurious and fatal resident-to-resident incidents in long-term care. Viewer discretion is advised at the outset due to some scenes containing graphic images of victim injuries and acts of violence resulting in serious physical injury.
21May

Linking Up: The Graying of AIDs

Well-known gerontologist Dr. James Birren once told me that in the late 1940s, all of the gerontologists in the United States could fit comfortably in one modest size hotel meeting room. He should know; he was there. Thanks to the leadership of Birren and so many others, modern gerontology has advanced vigorously since those days. Since its founding in 1945, the Gerontological Society of America has provided a formal organization for linking the diverse disciplines defining the study of aging and aged individuals.
29Mar

Head Full of Honey

Many contemporary films that deal with dementia focus on the role of the caregiver and the complex issues involved in supporting a family member living with dementia. Head Full of Honey falls into this category, but is unusual in having a youthful protagonist in the central caring role.
Movies About Aging and Elderhood