The Amaranth

Overall, I felt this was a very good movie. You do not have to be an A listed male or female actor to give an extremely good performance; you just have to have the opportunity to do so. But, as I sat though the viewing of the film, my mind drifted back to the 1970s for an oddly similar movie and the only one I could come up with was the original Stepford Wives.

There is no mention of anyone's age here, although that is the main issue of the film. Lily moves with her old husband on his request to a geriatric home, where everyone is of an undefinable old age. Her husband has a heart attack, but he recovers, and by the medications of the home he has a startling recovery and becomes a new man. She even gets pregnant.

She has an old father who never approved of her marriage, and in spite of her husband's wishes, she visits him sometimes. He dies, like all old people do sooner or later, but no one seems to die at the Amaranth.

The doctor is engaged in pioneering experiments, and almost every pensioner at the place eats his yellow pills. Well, let's not embark on any spoilers.

The film is interesting, because there is no science fiction here, everything is quite realistic, and these things could very well be going on. Medical science always needs to go on researching, there is never any end to new discoveries and breakthroughs, but these always need experiments.

The film explores this research activity in a very subtle way without giving anything away or risking any improper allegations. It is beautifully made at that, the music is perfectly adapted, and especially if you are anywhere in the medical profession, this should make you think. Is this really ethically tolerable? Well, the medical pioneers and researchers have no choice but just have to continue experimenting and follow through what they have started.

The premise of this thriller is interesting and fairly original, but somehow it didn't live up to its potential. That is mainly due to the very slow pace and the lack of any serious action. It's all in the atmosphere, that is supposed to be sinister and creepy, but even that didn't really come about. What didn't help was Melora Walters as the intelligent and suspicious heroine Lily, she constantly acted cranky, sulky or angry, treated her well-meaning old husband (a fine role by Richard Kendrick) condescending, and had an irritating, slurry way of talking, as if she was constantly under the influence of downers.

After some 70 minutes Lily (and we) out of the blue got all the answers to the mysteries (as if the leading doctor of the facility suddenly decided to make a clean sweep!), and after that there is a weird sort of epilogue, in which we see how formerly outraged and indignant Lily a few years later nevertheless drops her principles when it suits her own benefit. It could have been a strong, cynical ending, if it hadn't been presented so abrupt and out of the blue, it looked like either an afterthought of someone in the production who was able to force it into the movie, or as if some substantial material was lost on the cutting table.

While it seems like it's going to become a melodramatic, supercilious Lifetime type movie, it ends up treating a dicey subject a pretty objectively, giving the viewer an opportunity to form their own opinion, which I find refreshing in an era when every movie and TV show seems like imperious operant conditioning for convicted thought criminals.

Not a masterpiece but a very decent mystery thriller with excellent acting and a very good cast. A little slow and moderately predictable but was worth watching till the satisfying end. With who we have as president and the way society is going I see this story as very plausible and in the very near future.