We are big movie fans here at the Silver Century Foundation, but the silver screen hasn’t been overly kind to older characters. Hollywood’s ageist bent is easily exposed when older adults are depicted as comic sidekicks or stereotyped grandparents—when there is no role for them at all. Happily, more and more filmmakers around the world are tackling the subject of growing older with honesty, insight and beauty. Pete Croatto takes a look at films that were selected by SCF because they examine age and aging in ways that challenge us to think about our own views of growing older.
News of the World Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Families2020, USA, 118 min.
In hardscrabble, quick-to-anger, post-Civil War America, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) travels to isolated outposts to read from newspapers for audiences hungry for information. On his latest business trip, the middle-aged, peripatetic Kidd finds a 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel) abandoned in the woods. Kidd learns Johanna was to be delivered to her German immigrant relatives after being kidnapped by a Kyowa tribe, whom she now considers her true family. The grizzled Civil War veteran unwillingly becomes the girl’s temporary caretaker, navigating the dangerous Texas terrain to bring young Johanna to an unfamiliar home while figuring out how to break through her taciturn, nearly uncommunicative personality. Paul Greengrass’ Western could be construed as a thinly veiled but potent parable of today’s politically fractured climate, but it succeeds as a tender, reflective tale of two lost souls finding emotional sustenance in the wreckage of their lives. Greengrass eases his trademark jumpy, taut, directorial style to craft a stirring reminder that it’s never too late to make ourselves whole. Hanks and Zengel are terrific. Based on Paulette Jiles’ novel.
Supernova Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Long-Lasting Marriages, Mortality2021, UK, 95 min.
Married couple Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci) take their camper through the English countryside, a pleasant distraction from the latter’s dementia diagnosis. There’s gentle bickering, visits with friends and bucolic beauty to spare. But the signs of Tusker’s decline—the inability to put on a shirt, the wandering—are impossible to ignore and cannot erase a building conflict. Tusker, a writer, knows his fate and sees no point in prolonging the inevitable; Sam wants to play the role of doting spouse, to see their relationship end at death do us part. Writer-director Harry Macqueen prefers compassion over morality in exploring the spousal caretaker-patient relationship. If a person facing a terminal illness chooses to end their life, should a loved one honor that wish or fight for more time? Sam and Tusker’s exploration of that question is poignant and even-handed, the kind of development people have every day. Viewers will be riveted by this mature love story and reminded how listening and honesty enrich every worthy relationship.
Nomadland Posted in: Arts, Based on True Stories, Cinema, Midlife, Single, Widowed or Divorced2020, United States, 107 min.
As it does with millions of modern-day people, the promise of a traditional retirement has escaped Fern (Frances McDormand). Faced with the death of her husband and the loss of her entire town due to the Great Recession, Fern takes her battered, converted van where there’s work and a place to park. Her new family becomes a wandering band of older Americans who find security in transience. Director-writer Chloé Zhao tells Fern’s story simply and without any contrivances, allowing us to admire a woman who finds her center by traveling the country. McDormand, who served as a producer, delivers a lived-in, authentic performance that enhances the film’s message of resolve. Though the circumstances surrounding Fern’s lifestyle are sad, her determination to find purpose in her life’s breakdown turns Nomadland into an intriguing paradox, a life-affirming criticism of capitalism’s ceaseless grind. Winner of three Academy Awards—Best Director, Best Picture and Best Actress. Based on Jessica Bruder’s book.
Elizabeth Is Missing Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families, Friendships2019, United Kingdom, 87 min.
Due to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s disease, Maud’s life consists of notes—reminders affixed to items around the house and stuffed into her pockets. It’s a life of frustration and stasis, punctuated by outings with her friend, Elizabeth (Maggie Steed), who resides nearby. When Elizabeth doesn’t show up for their get-together, Maud (Glenda Jackson) is annoyed. The time and place are on a scrap of paper, so where is she? As the days mount without any explanation of Elizabeth’s sudden disappearance, Maud grows obsessed, then frantic as the hazy details of her friend’s predicament overlap with an unresolved tragedy from long ago. This isn’t a mystery as much as it is a stirring portrait of an older woman’s struggle to be heard as she gets pulled between the past and the present. Elizabeth Is Missing provides a potent reminder of the agony faced by those afflicted with dementia, the patience required by their loved ones and the lack of a convenient resolution all around. Jackson, as usual, is terrific. Based on Emma Healey’s novel.
The Father Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families2020, UK-France, 97 min.
Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) endures dementia while living with his adult daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), in a palatial London apartment. The combative Anthony refuses all care, while Anne shoulders the burden. Director/co-writer Florian Zeller’s brilliant drama (adapted from his play) abandons any straightforward narrative impulses. Anthony’s reality changes daily. People don’t look the same. People appear, then vanish. The apartment looks slightly different day by day, even moment to moment. Is Anthony grappling with his declining cognitive abilities or is Anne the one struggling to cope? The result is an unforgettable and poetically powerful look at how dementia not only devastates the afflicted but the people forced to become caretakers. Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film was the winner of two—including for Hopkins, who at 83 became the oldest winner in a competitive acting category.
The Life Ahead Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families, Friendships2020, Italy, 94 min.
Orphaned 12-year-old Momo (Ibrahima Gueye) dabbles in petty crime in a seaside Italian village, heading nowhere fast. When the boy’s temporary caretaker asks his neighbor, Madame Rosa (Sophia Loren), to take the charismatic, scheming Momo in for two months, Rosa reluctantly agrees. The Holocaust survivor and former streetwalker is the neighborhood’s mom. Her health is failing but her feistiness persists. As Rosa and others in her circle show the kid genuine affection, he reconsiders his path. The film is as predictable as the sunrise, but it’s easy to succumb to the bittersweet tone and the winning performances. Gueye is a revelation and the legendary Loren scores in her first film role in 11 years. The Life Ahead shows the influence older adults can have on youth without resorting to saccharine antics or fist-pounding life lessons. If the movie sounds familiar, there’s a reason. It’s based on the French novel, La Vie Devant Soi, and was adapted for the screen twice before—including as the 1978 Oscar winner, Madame Rosa.
The Lunchbox Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Midlife, Single, Widowed or Divorced2013, India, 104 min.
In Mumbai, government employee Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan), widowed and withdrawn, sulks toward a lonely retirement, weighed down by the prospect of old age. In the middle of another humdrum day, Saajan sits down for his delivered lunch and is blown away. That food wasn’t made by a restaurant, but by the much younger Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a neglected housewife, long entrenched in a lingering, loveless marriage, hoping to get her disinterested husband’s attention. The mix-up evolves into a daily communication between the two lost souls. Ila packs a note with Saajan’s lunch; he returns the empty containers with a missive. Each exchange reveals more about their lives, bringing them closer to meeting—and having reality interfere. An honest, poignant look at the quiet toxicity of complacency is made compelling by the late Khan’s moving, artfully restrained performance as a man rediscovering his ability to connect with the outside world. Discerning moviegoers will adore this intelligent, exquisite film that is alternately grounded and grand.
The Hero Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Later Life Quests, Mortality2017, USA, 96 min.
Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott), 71, is coasting on the fumes of a long-dormant acting career, looking for work and biding time with his friend/pot dealer (Nick Offerman) in stoned, leisurely inertia. When he gets a troubling medical diagnosis, he looks to mend his relationship with his adult daughter (Krysten Ritter) and embarks on a romance with a much younger woman (Laura Prepon). Neither knows of his diagnosis, but Lee’s uncertain future, coupled with a sudden career resurgence, turns his stagnation into a full-fledged personal crisis. Can he revive his legacy and lean into the comfort of success or should he open himself up to the highs and lows of real-life relationships? The movie’s theme is universal, but Elliott’s empathetic, weathered performance makes us feel that weight all the more—and provides ample reason to go on Lee’s alternately somber and enlightening journey. Director and co-writer Brett Haley also directed Elliott in I’ll See You in My Dreams (2015), which comes highly recommended.
When Did You Last See Your Father? Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Families, Midlife2007, UK-Ireland, 92 min.
Writer Blake Morrison (Colin Firth) is permanently exasperated by his elderly father, Arthur (Jim Broadbent), a bellicose, overbearing doctor whose love for his son comes couched in passive-aggressive barbs. “It’s plastic,” Arthur, long skeptical of his son’s profession, observes after Blake wins a writing award. When Arthur grows seriously ill, Blake returns to his childhood home and is prompted to review their past. The plot toggles between Arthur’s inevitable, unglamorous decline and the early 1960s, when Blake and Arthur’s relationship unravels as the increasingly independent teenager sees his father’s brio and rapport with women as critical shortcomings. Oscar winners Broadbent and Firth are excellent, and director Anand Tucker doesn’t sugarcoat the Morrison men’s sometimes contentious rapport. There will be no gooey bedside chat, so Blake must come to terms with his father’s love without one party providing guidance. This might be one of the best movies in recent memory that covers the exquisite difficulty of viewing a parent as a person, not as a myth.
And So It Goes Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families, Midlife, Single, Widowed or Divorced2014, USA, 94 min.
In a quaint, coastal New England town, Oren Little (Michael Douglas) is its biggest irritant. He’s rude to dogs, kids, pregnant ladies—pretty much anyone with the temerity to smile at him. Long widowed, Oren is eager to sell his family home and escape his past, until his troubled, adult son (Austin Lysy) drops off his nine-year-old daughter (Sterling Jerins) before heading to prison. Oren wrangles his singer neighbor, Leah (Diane Keaton), to help watch the granddaughter he’s never met, a situation that draws the pair closer to their adorable, unintentional charge—and to each other. Rob Reiner’s comedy-drama has issues beyond Reiner’s character’s hideous toupee. Douglas and Keaton make a nice pair, but the screenplay gives them little sparkling repartee and the plot features absolutely no surprises. The film’s biggest value is as a palate cleanser. Reiner gently urges us to look for happiness at home and shows that embracing forgiveness can open our hearts to unexpected happiness.
Finding Your Feet Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Families, Midlife2017, UK, 111 min.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Sandra Abbott (Imelda Stauton). Her husband of 40 years had just retired, meaning their life of pampered leisure was supposed to start. Instead, she catches him canoodling in the wine cellar with her best friend, a glimpse of their five-year affair. Sandra moves out of the house and descends on her estranged, bohemian, older sister, Bif (Celia Imrie), who lives in a working-class London neighborhood. Stuffy Sandra flounders in her sister’s free-spirit environment, spending most of her time in a snit. Then Bif takes Sandra to her community dance class, where she finds her feet. Richard Lonzcraine’s perceptive, winning comedy-drama takes no cheap shots as Sandra’s journey of self-discovery is handled with depth and care, especially her growing rapport with a high-stepping handyman (Timothy Spall), who is dealing with his own fractured marriage. Finding Your Feet makes us care for its superb cast of characters, who convince us to leap into happiness—whatever it might be—whenever it enters our view. This is a lovely, life-affirming film that all ages will savor.
Tuesdays with Morrie Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Mortality1999, USA, 89 min.
Detroit sportswriter Mitch Albom’s jumbled world resets when he learns that his beloved college professor, Morrie Schwartz, is dying of ALS. Despite a frantic work schedule and a rickety personal life, Albom reconnects with the fatherly professor he hasn’t seen in 16 years. He goes a step further: traveling from Detroit to Boston every Tuesday during the professor’s old “office hours” to get lessons on “The Meaning of Life.” The younger man learns to live his best life from Schwartz, whose empathetic wisdom glows brighter as the days grow more painful. “Dying is nothing to be worried about,” Morrie advises. “Living unhappily, that’s another matter.” The made-for-TV movie veers toward the saccharine, but its good intentions and the sensitive performances of Jack Lemmon (in one of his final roles) and Hank Azaria more than atone. More importantly, Schwartz’s lessons of love, hope and learning until the very end remain timeless. Based on Albom’s 1997 memoir, which has sold more than 10 million copies and spent more than four years on the New York Times’ best-seller list.
Darling Companion Posted in: Cinema, Families, Midlife2012, USA, 103 min.
When Beth (Diane Keaton) finds a raggedy dog on the side of the road, she can’t bear to let go of the mutt. The development doesn’t sit well with Beth’s husband, Joseph (Kevin Kline), a preoccupied back surgeon. He has little need for a new, furry, family member, whom Beth names “Freeway.” Time passes. Beth’s love for the dog blooms; Joseph remains indifferent. When he loses Freeway in the woods after their daughter’s wedding (to the pooch’s vet), the couple’s search—aided by friends and family members—doubles as a rustic therapy session to reassess their feelings. Lawrence Kasdan’s meditative, leisurely drama fits alongside his previous works (The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist) and offers a stirring reminder to savor and renew our longest, deepest relationships. Time and inertia do not automatically preserve them. Viewers will adore the talented members of the search party, including Dianne Wiest, Sam Shepard and Richard Jenkins, who, as is his wont, steals every scene he’s in. (Yes, the dog is adorable too.)
Roommates Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Families1995, USA, 108 min.
Max Apple’s acclaimed memoir of life with his grandfather, who lived to 107, gets successfully overhauled in this heartwarming, emotionally satisfying film adaptation that gives Peter Falk a memorable role. The beloved television actor plays Rocky, a cantankerous baker, who at age 75 becomes the caretaker of his young, orphaned grandson. The boy, Michael, grows up. He becomes a doctor, marries, has children. Then tragedy strikes. At each high and low, the old man provides ballast for Michael (played as an adult by D.B. Sweeney). Though Rocky is portrayed as a font of wisdom, what distinguishes the movie is director Peter Yates’ refusal to turn the character into a mascot or a punch line. Rocky’s refusal to compromise, coupled with his relentless love for his family, will delight and educate viewers of all ages.
What They Had Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families2018, USA, 101 min.
After her senile mother wanders off in the dead of night, Bridget (Hilary Swank) rushes to her hometown of Chicago to help. Mom (Blythe Danner) returns unscathed, but chaos reigns. Bridget’s orderly, duty-bound father (Robert Forster) refuses to place his wife in a care facility even as her condition worsens. Bridget’s brother, Nicholas (Michael Shannon), has grown resentful over steering his in-denial parents toward stability while his own life crumbles. And being home forces Bridget to face her own unhappiness with her present—and the past she has tried to outrun for decades. Director-writer Elizabeth Chomko shows how tenaciously we hold on to our familial roles, even when they hurt the ones we love—and the joy that can arrive when we let go. The performances are excellent in this poignant and honest family drama that treats all of its characters with compassion and depth.
No Country for Old Men Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Mortality2007, USA, 122 min.
Retired welder Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers a case filled with $2 million cash in the Texas desert. Moss grabs the money and metaphorically opens the gates of hell. He’s relentlessly pursued by monotone, bowl-cut, sporting hit man Anton Chigurh (the bone-chilling Javier Bardem), who is almost unstoppable. Moss and soon-to-retire sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who’s pursuing the case, make their stand in this battle of Old West heroism over indefatigable and relentless malevolence. Director-writers Joel and Ethan Coen’s (Fargo) rollicking crime movie is also a wistful reminder: heroes get old and die; evil never lags. This indisputable meditative classic—filled with layered, pitch-perfect performances—won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Learning to Drive Posted in: Cinema, Friendships, Later Life Quests, Midlife2015, USA/UK, 90 min.
Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley star in this touching comedy-drama about taking control of your life in your 50s. Sheltered, affluent book critic Wendy ends up in the NYC taxi of Darwan moments after she is unceremoniously dumped by her husband in a restaurant. When the working-class cabbie, a turban-wearing, Sikh immigrant, returns the next day with the separation papers, he’s not in his cab, but in a car with a “Driving Lessons” sign affixed. Wendy, who cannot drive, spots the sign—and a chance to gain some control over her life. The calm, sage Darwan is the perfect tonic for Wendy’s frazzled state. As Darwan teaches Wendy to drive, she shows him how to embrace the arrival of his wife, a woman he has never met, who throws his work-centric life for a loop. The beauty of Isabel Coixet’s drama is that it treats the main characters as clear-thinking, experienced adults. To solve their personal problems, Darwan and Wendy must look inward as well as to each other. The emotional authenticity will enlighten and reassure audiences, and Clarkson and Kingsley’s genuine, deeply felt performances only reinforce those qualities.
Two Weeks Posted in: Arts, Cinema, Families2006, USA, 102 min.
When cancer-ridden Anita Bergman (Sally Field) submits to hospice care, her four adult children (Ben Chaplin, Tom Cavanagh, Julianne Nicholson and Glenn Howerton) reunite in suburban North Carolina to help temporarily and to say goodbye permanently. As the days yawn toward grim inevitability, they all—including Anita, who is not ready to go—peel off their cultivated facades and reassess their priorities. This is especially true for Keith (Chaplin), who keeps tamping down his emotions, and Barry (Cavanagh), whose career rules his life. Two Weeks poignantly reminds us to truly know our family (especially our parents and grandparents) before time passes into lifelong regret. Thankfully, director-writer Steve Stockman coats the proceedings with ample humor to make his movie uplifting for multiple generations.
Youth in Oregon Posted in: Arts, Caregiving, Cinema, Families, Mortality2016, USA, 105 min.
Retired physician Raymond (Frank Langella) has had enough. He’s tired of burdening his family. He’s tired of having old age chip away at his virility. And he can’t stomach the idea of another heart surgery that will barely hold off encroaching death. So, at his 80th birthday celebration, Raymond makes an announcement: he’s traveling to Oregon the next day to be euthanized. In the hope of buying time, Raymond’s harried son-in-law (Billy Crudup) agrees to drive Raymond and his boozy wife (Mary Kay Place) the 3,000 miles to his eventual resting place. What begins as an indulgence grows increasingly serious as more family members get recruited in a cross-country salvation mission. Though the tone wobbles, Langella’s sturdy, humane performance remains a balm, as does the movie’s message: no matter what stage of life you’re muddling through, fixing the present is necessary to embrace the future you desire.
If You’re Not in the Obits, Eat Breakfast Posted in: Cinema, Documentaries2017, USA, 86 min.
The title of this documentary serves as a guiding principle for Carl Reiner, the 95-year-old comedy legend, who gets thrown for a loop when he sees himself in the accompanying photo for the Los Angeles Times’ obituary of actress Polly Bergen. That scare gets Reiner thinking. Every time he turns on the computer—Reiner writes every day and has penned five books since hitting 90—people of advanced age are doing amazing things. What’s the secret? What ensues is a charming, effervescent series of profiles featuring nonagenarians doing everything from one-man shows (Kirk Douglas, still vital after a stroke) to teaching yoga (the endearing and spritely Tao Porchon-Lynch). The mixture of everyday folks and famous people will inspire and educate all viewers. Thriving in old age cannot be acquired with money or status. It has everything to do with having the right attitude and being comfortable with yourself.
