Assisted Living

I just want to preface this with the fact that everyone has an opinion. Making a film or a piece of art in general is respectable. You're putting yourself out there for people to tear you apart or love you. So, with the utmost respect...How is this being reviewed so well? The narrative was very weak and the documentary sections seemed to ramble on and on. How many times can a montage of old people's hands and feet be interesting? I felt nothing for the lead character at all and halfway through the film wanted to go to sleep. While combining documentary and fiction film is an interesting concept, it totally doesn't work here. It seems like something patched together.

I empathize with a few reviewers who have described what it is like to put a parent in a nursing home. My brother is a doctor, and we recently had to put our father, a war veteran, into assisted living; this is such a pertinent theme today; American families trying to help aging parents. (With no help from insurance companies).

This indie film is well-presented, in that Todd, well portrayed, is a caring person, disillusioned with his life and job.

He empathizes with an Alzheimer's patient, Mrs. Perlman. She misses her son, and for some reason identifies with Todd. We see the cold impersonal staff at the home, as Mrs. Perlman tries to make a phone call, and the nurse on duty patronizes her, telling her to go to her room and lie down.

Kudos to the director, addressing a taboo subject. This film is one of the few worth buying, I was very moved by the performances (some of which are real patients at an assisted living facility in Kentucky). 9/10.

Saw this at the pre-release screening in NYC. Why do people think that only stoners, misfits and screw-ups show "humanity?" Todd the janitor was not really kind to the old people; the care-takers who follow the rules and show up every day deserve the real credit in "assisted living." The director answered questions after the screening and his heart is in the right place but he is perhaps overly influenced by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and others in the genre. He did get some good performances from his real-life residents and captured the way these facilities are run. Particularly good was the administrator who needs a bottle of bourbon--the film was shot in Kentucky--to get through the day.

"Assisted Living" is a subtle and moving portrait of individuals trying to reach out to each other within the rigid, bureaucratic realities of a nursing home.

Brilliantly filmed within an actual facility, using long walks down endless corridors much as Gus Van Sant did in "Elephant," the realism is palpable, framed by "The Office"-style mockumentary interviews with the staff and other interactions that have the honest feel of situational spontaneity.

But debut writer/director Elliot Greenebaum lets us gradually understand each quirky character, literally warts and all. He raises some of the same issues of bland, controlling institutionalization of the disabled that "Rory O'Shea Was Here (Inside I'm Dancing)," but that focused on the young with options, or like a less exaggerated "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and this focuses on how the elderly have fewer options, particularly as Alzheimer's and physical ailments can slowly overtake them. He lets us quietly-yet with intense trepidation-- understand what assignment to different parts of the facility mean to the residents and the staff as he demonstrates how an institution becomes a complete social order.

Until I checked the IMDb I wasn't sure if the cast even had SAG cards or were excellent local amateurs. While Michael Bonsignore is very good as the stoner orderly whose simple human kindness in opening a door or picking up a telephone has unintended consequences, Maggie Riley as "Mrs. Pearlman" is breathtaking as the resident who connects with him, outshining Gena Rowlands "The Notebook," let alone Gloria Stuart in "Titanic," for creating a complex portrait of woman who is still holding on to some reality before she goes out not gentle into that good night.

The cinematography was fairly grainy, though that added to the documentary feel of a video diary. The music was excellent in helping to build up the tension around little things that are very emotional.

While you will cry, you are left less depressed than sympathetic for the indomitability of the human spirit in the face of the inevitable. I remember a seminar I went to about the disabled where the facilitator said that we are all only temporarily abled. This should be required viewing for anyone who has (or will have) institutionalized relatives.

I recently saw "Assisted Living" at a private screening in Washington, DC, and I thought it was incredible. The film captures the loneliness that many older people go through when their families forget about them, but it also portrays the fundamental beauty of human relationships. I was so happy to see this area/topic explored by a "younger person." As a 24-year old who works in this industry I'm often frustrated by the lack of interest and respect for the elderly and for the aging process. Mr. Greenebaum captured a message that sadly escapes many people today -- that quality of life is largely determined by how people treat each other, and your willingness to connect with others....regardless of how old you are.