attills64
Spoiler alert to some degree. I have many reasons to attend, watch and work on a wide variety of productions but feel that a warning should be given when you watch a Christmas film to get a shot of glitter and Christmas spirit and end up watching a film that is designed to depress. There are many deep meaningful films.They are very important and help people both understand and work though issues that they have encountered in there lives. They also educate and help the the ignorant understand how these problems effect those immersed in these issues. I have been on both sides but when wanting to have that hot chocolate feeling this film wont even switch the kettle on let alone open the cocoa.
asa1234
Lovely, Still is a beautiful movie that rounds out 2 complex characters so completely that the ending, although heartbreaking, is perfect. Since Alzheimer's is a disease that touches many families this is a very poignant film to remind the viewer how precious time is with those we love. The beginning of the film, although a bit slow, captures your heart by investing time in watching two sole mates find each other, you think, later in life. The end of the film you see the struggle with overall conclusion that no matter against what odds, love is the most important thing. I will recommend everyone in my life to watch this film for the sake of reminding them how blessed we are.
tedg
I rarely do this, recommend a bad film. But I will ask if you start this, that you see it through.The film takes advantage of the fact that we have a profoundly well developed notion of a movie romance. We have that here: older woman moves in and that same day asks the old man across the street for a date. They hit it off and have a wonderful Christmas a couple days later. He is a lonely bagger at the local grocery store, and apparently has never had a Christmas with another soul. In the first scene, we see him wrapping a present to himself.For the first very long section, we are dipped in movie love, as we not only see the romance but we see it with an excess of cinematic sugar: when she says she likes him, the entire street lights up with Christmas lights behind her, for instance. There is lots of snow and gauzy happiness. In the filmmaker's defense, we are given some hints that things are not quite right. Our fellow has nightmares of unformed nature. Our love interest across the street is panicked when a prescription goes awry. Our fellow seems to occasionally get confused and borderline violent.And then after an immersion in the sickly romance as perceived by our guy, we have a big reveal. He has advanced dementia. The woman and her daughter across the street is his family and has been for decades, but he has forgotten. He fell in love with his wife all over again. The store where he works is a business he built, now managed by a quirky guy we discover is his son. His wife has been sneaking in every day and preparing meals, drugs (the problem prescription was his) and reminder post-its. This is a pretty disturbing shift, in part because it is so unexpected. Any filmmaker who would stoop as low as we had experienced for an hour, milking the cheapest of tricks would be expected to coast home on those alone. But it does recast what we have seen (and been somewhat affected by) as the last kind of story that a disappearing mind can hold on to. And that is something even the most talent filmmakers fail with much of the time.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
tetsuo kogawa
Fortunately, I saw the preview recently in Tokyo. That was great. You should see this. When you see the press conference (Q & A) after the Toronto Film Festival, you can understand that the actors (Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn and etc) and the young director Nicholas Fackler trusted entirely each other. The actors were fascinated by Nik's talent. They realized his genius potentials into the marvelous work. I was amazed at how such a young (at age of of 23) "student" could have directed this excellent movie. Therefore, it is too bad that this movie is, so far, ignored by major studios and distributors in the US.