Greetings again from the darkness. Writer/Director Tamara Jenkins showed off her flair for dysfunctional families in her last film "Slums of Beverly Hills". Here she tackles a most difficult, and ever-growing issue of boomers caring for their elderly parents ... often dealing with not only declining physical health, but increasingly with Alzheimers, Dementia and MS. Toss in two not-even-kinda-close siblings and an estranged, abusive parent in need and you have Ms. Jenkins' brand of topical observation.
I have been threatening to jump off the Laura Linney bandwagon for a couple of years. Her most recent roles strike me as little more than line reading and beady-eyed stares. Here, she comes to play again. She flashes all the frustration that one would expect from a lonely, mostly intelligent 40ish woman whose life is really just a mess. Her only functional (barely) relationship is with her cat.
Her father's onset of dementia and forced home evacuation causes the necessary teaming with her brother, played by the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman. The two must step up and "take better care of the old man than he ever did for us". Anyone who has been through this painful process recognizes most of the pain, discomfort and loss of dignity that the family must endure. The scene of Linney and her dad on the plane is just excruciating.
The film does a marvelous job of capturing the real life juggles of numerous relationships that we all go through. As if that isn't quite challenging enough, the pending death of a parent and all of the decisions and emotions that go with it act as a compounding stress agent. Here the dad is played to perfection by character actor Philip Bosco as he fights to stay in control even as he recognizes his slippage.
My only complaints with this film are Ms. Jenkins' apparent obsession with prescription drugs and the overall poor direction of the film. She is obviously a magnificent writer, but this film in a real director's hands could have taken the next step. Still, it provides terrific insight into an all too real situation.
One quick point about Philip Seymour Hoffman. This guy has delivered THREE outstanding performances this year with "The Savages", "Charlie Wilson's War" and "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead". I believe the Academy should forego the "Best Performance by an Actor" this year and just hand Mr. Hoffman a statue for "Actor of the Year". It is such a pleasure to watch his talent on screen.
I have been threatening to jump off the Laura Linney bandwagon for a couple of years. Her most recent roles strike me as little more than line reading and beady-eyed stares. Here, she comes to play again. She flashes all the frustration that one would expect from a lonely, mostly intelligent 40ish woman whose life is really just a mess. Her only functional (barely) relationship is with her cat.
Her father's onset of dementia and forced home evacuation causes the necessary teaming with her brother, played by the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman. The two must step up and "take better care of the old man than he ever did for us". Anyone who has been through this painful process recognizes most of the pain, discomfort and loss of dignity that the family must endure. The scene of Linney and her dad on the plane is just excruciating.
The film does a marvelous job of capturing the real life juggles of numerous relationships that we all go through. As if that isn't quite challenging enough, the pending death of a parent and all of the decisions and emotions that go with it act as a compounding stress agent. Here the dad is played to perfection by character actor Philip Bosco as he fights to stay in control even as he recognizes his slippage.
My only complaints with this film are Ms. Jenkins' apparent obsession with prescription drugs and the overall poor direction of the film. She is obviously a magnificent writer, but this film in a real director's hands could have taken the next step. Still, it provides terrific insight into an all too real situation.
One quick point about Philip Seymour Hoffman. This guy has delivered THREE outstanding performances this year with "The Savages", "Charlie Wilson's War" and "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead". I believe the Academy should forego the "Best Performance by an Actor" this year and just hand Mr. Hoffman a statue for "Actor of the Year". It is such a pleasure to watch his talent on screen.