McBethie
Joined Jan 2007
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Reviews12
McBethie's rating
If you liked:
The Dead Poet's Society
The Map of Tiny, Perfect Things
August Rush
Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl
Love, Simon
My Girl
The Way, Way Back
Stand By Me
The Karate Kid...then I bet you'd like this movie. A LOT. One of the best films I've seen recently.
Paul Giamatti is superb. And he managed to tow the line between awkward loner, inspirational mentor, and grumpy old dude finding his way through the world. And like most all of us, his world has had a lot of bumps and has let him down in ways that become known near the end of the film. He's burnt out writer/teacher, and doesn't care.
Dominic Sessa plays a student who is as lost as Giamatti's character is, and somehow they forge an unlikely friendship during the winter break at the boarding school. They're both aloof with no need of anyone else or each other...until they do.
This film does a great job of echoing how we all awkwardly navigate life, tip-toeing and tripping along the way, and allows us to find heroes in characters we didn't expect to initially.
Paul Giamatti is superb. And he managed to tow the line between awkward loner, inspirational mentor, and grumpy old dude finding his way through the world. And like most all of us, his world has had a lot of bumps and has let him down in ways that become known near the end of the film. He's burnt out writer/teacher, and doesn't care.
Dominic Sessa plays a student who is as lost as Giamatti's character is, and somehow they forge an unlikely friendship during the winter break at the boarding school. They're both aloof with no need of anyone else or each other...until they do.
This film does a great job of echoing how we all awkwardly navigate life, tip-toeing and tripping along the way, and allows us to find heroes in characters we didn't expect to initially.
Everything about this movie is exquisitely perfect, esp the cast.
But listen, if you've ever been a caregiver and you watch this film, it's going to resonate so deeply you'll be shaken. I watched it a few months after my mom passed from Lewy Body Dementia during the Pandemic, shortly after the lock down lifted. She fell and broke her tailbone, and once we got IN to see a doctor, we were told that she would probably only have around 3 months, because there was no treatment, and with inactivity and lack of movement she would develop pneumonia, etc. What that means is that during that time, when nothing was in place to assist individuals in her/our position, facing the choice to place her in a nursing home (where EVERYONE had Covid, and the nursing was understaffed across the entire planet) it meant I and the rest of my family (living 5+ hours from us) would have never seen her again. Because nursing homes didn't allow visitors during that time, but we were hearing on the news how many people passed who lived in them, and that there was no one to care for the patients. I was on my own taking care of her until months later, hospice got to the place they could step in.
This is not a complaint- no one was in a "good" place, and we certainly had things immeasurably better than so many other realities out there...it's simply an explanation of why this movie moved me so much.
So...one day a few months after she passed, I happen upon this film, and with only a cursory awareness of the plot, I naively commit to watching it because I like the cast members. And what I got was a 4 hour sob fest which was essentially a therapy session, and the reassurance that sometimes love DOES win. (There were several pauses while watching it, while I looked for additional boxes of tissues, and our dogs had to assure themselves that I was actually OK, just grieving, but needing consolation.)
I think I was so busy and exhausted that I simply never realized just HOW alone I felt during that time, until I watched this amazing movie, and then somehow magically felt LESS alone.
I am a movie person. It's my thing. If I'm cooking, folding laundry, you name it... a movie is playing in the background even if I'm not actively engaged in it. Almost 4 years later, when I see this title, it's almost like a hug from an old friend. Some movies are just that kind of "weepy beautiful" and this is one of them. Like Steel Magnolias, or Terms of Endearment.
But there are also moments of unexpected humor. I remember a good friend of mine advising me that once my mom and I had adjusted to the dementia, we would be blessed with incredible moments of hilarity like none other in our lives, and he was right. This movie also captures moments like that, which are a gift.
It's brutally honest...about the hurt, the abandonment, the hopelessness, the frustration and anger, the grieving...all of it. But it is also perfectly written, impeccably well-acted and directed, and poignantly gently. It's a testament to love, and a re-assurement that sometimes love does win, even if it's in a way you don't expect.
But listen, if you've ever been a caregiver and you watch this film, it's going to resonate so deeply you'll be shaken. I watched it a few months after my mom passed from Lewy Body Dementia during the Pandemic, shortly after the lock down lifted. She fell and broke her tailbone, and once we got IN to see a doctor, we were told that she would probably only have around 3 months, because there was no treatment, and with inactivity and lack of movement she would develop pneumonia, etc. What that means is that during that time, when nothing was in place to assist individuals in her/our position, facing the choice to place her in a nursing home (where EVERYONE had Covid, and the nursing was understaffed across the entire planet) it meant I and the rest of my family (living 5+ hours from us) would have never seen her again. Because nursing homes didn't allow visitors during that time, but we were hearing on the news how many people passed who lived in them, and that there was no one to care for the patients. I was on my own taking care of her until months later, hospice got to the place they could step in.
This is not a complaint- no one was in a "good" place, and we certainly had things immeasurably better than so many other realities out there...it's simply an explanation of why this movie moved me so much.
So...one day a few months after she passed, I happen upon this film, and with only a cursory awareness of the plot, I naively commit to watching it because I like the cast members. And what I got was a 4 hour sob fest which was essentially a therapy session, and the reassurance that sometimes love DOES win. (There were several pauses while watching it, while I looked for additional boxes of tissues, and our dogs had to assure themselves that I was actually OK, just grieving, but needing consolation.)
I think I was so busy and exhausted that I simply never realized just HOW alone I felt during that time, until I watched this amazing movie, and then somehow magically felt LESS alone.
I am a movie person. It's my thing. If I'm cooking, folding laundry, you name it... a movie is playing in the background even if I'm not actively engaged in it. Almost 4 years later, when I see this title, it's almost like a hug from an old friend. Some movies are just that kind of "weepy beautiful" and this is one of them. Like Steel Magnolias, or Terms of Endearment.
But there are also moments of unexpected humor. I remember a good friend of mine advising me that once my mom and I had adjusted to the dementia, we would be blessed with incredible moments of hilarity like none other in our lives, and he was right. This movie also captures moments like that, which are a gift.
It's brutally honest...about the hurt, the abandonment, the hopelessness, the frustration and anger, the grieving...all of it. But it is also perfectly written, impeccably well-acted and directed, and poignantly gently. It's a testament to love, and a re-assurement that sometimes love does win, even if it's in a way you don't expect.