Tough subject gets sensitive treatment from a stellar cast about seniors and dementia. First time writer/director Elizabeth Chomko based the film, set in
her home town, Chicago, on having to accept her own grandmother going through Alzheimer’s. Here, she depicts how It takes a toll when family members don’t agree how to handle the situation. And especially when an elderly, loving couple has to consider not being able to stay together.
Chomko is an actress and wrote the part with herself in mind, but cast Hilary Swank as Bridget, the daughter having to deal with her parents played lovingly and realistically by Blythe Danner and Robert Forster as Ruth and Burt. It’s good to see Swank back on the big screen. Right for the part because she took a 3 year hiatus to take care her Dad who successfully had a lung transplant and walked his daughter down the aisle recently when she got married.
Chomko told us in an interview during the Chicago International Film Festival that this was her dream cast and she was afraid to breathe shooting scenes for fear of ruining the moments they created. In our interview, Robert Forster credited Chomko’s directing. Late in the film, Forster does a poignant scene with Michael Shannon in a bar that is so revealing about their testy Father/Son relationship. The actor says she gave it the time and pace to play out and we agree it gets maximum effect.
Forster is a force to be reckoned with as the cantankerous, loyal husband determined to stay together and take care of his wife, no matter what. Bridget and Nick, think it’s time for Mom to go to a facility that will keep her safe from taking off alone forgetting who and where she is.
Bridget lives away in LA and has her own problems. She’s pretty oblivious to her Mother’s state. Nick and his parents live in Chicago. He’s the go-to guy when something goes wrong. Shannon plays Nick with understandable resentment, wry humor and panic when Mom goes wandering off on snowy nights thinking she’s a little girl trying to find home. Seeing Blythe Danner walking away from the camera under street lights leaving footsteps in the glistening snow without a coat or shoes is a scary sight.
This film becomes family drama with all members bumping heads over what to do. Blythe Danner plus Ruth beautiful, sweet, and oblivious to her loss of memory, except, periodically, she says she knows she’s not the same woman she once was. There’s a lot of repetition of her awkward behavior which is part of the disease. Every time she sees her daughter saying “Is that my baby?” Danner and Forster are charming as a couple, especially in the scene where Bridget sees her Dad having fun giving his wife a pedicure.
Chomko brings commitment in marriage and religion into the mix. Love for her grandmother inspired this film. You get a complete picture of this family and their frustrations with the situation and each other. Humor lightens it up, and you can feel the love in the performances which are touching but not overly dramatic. A good script is enhanced by a good cast. They make this film dealing with memory loss one that will stay with you.
