SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

grantss Emotional, painful, frustrating journey.The story of a woman who is put in a home after she develops Alzheimer's Disease, how her and her husband cope with with this, and how their relationship is affected.Very sensitively told, making for a very emotional movie. Maybe too sensitively done: the film moves incredibly slowly. Every scene is drawn out to breaking point. Plus there are some incredibly frustrating turns of events, which add to the irritation.However, the level of engagement with the characters is high enough for you to sit through it all. It's not a perfect movie, far from it - for the reasons mentioned above and the lack of a punchy or profound ending - but is watchable and endurable.

kgroneman-250-698012 This film could have deserved the high ratings it has received, but I think those ratings are based on the emotional factor of this film which, I agree, is high, hence my giving it 5 stars. However, there are several things lacking in this movie which took away the other 5 stars. Some things are just too unrealistic:There seems to be no friends or family of the main characters * The head nurse seems to have all the time in the world and never seems to be doing anything * The husband doesn't call police or even seem upset when his wife takes off on skis and goes missing. * There are no family pictures or music or any effort at all to remind the wife of who she is. The husband is totally unhelpful in this regard. Once he grabs her by the shoulders and tells her who he is, but otherwise is just too calm and too removed.If they would have added some elements of realism to this scenario, it would have been a lovely movie.

SnoopyStyle Sarah Polley's directorial debut is an impressive one. Mostly, she was successful in picking great actors. Grant Anderson (Gordon Pinsent) is suffering as his wife Fiona (Julie Christie) slowly loses her memories. She has Alzheimer's disease and gets placed in a long term care facility.The whole movie takes place on the face of Gordon Pinsent. His pain is evident every time she can't remember him. It is truly heartbreaking. Julie Christie delivers one of her greatest performances. She doesn't overact. The confusion isn't theatrical which could so easily taken as comical. It is a quiet suffering on the scraggly old face of Pinsent. The one out of step moment is the passing old man who comments that Grant's heart is breaking into a thousand pieces. It's too obvious and too on the nose.There is something about veteran actors taking all their life experiences and putting it on the screen. It's something that can't be faked. And it can't be done with younger actors. We saw a man breaking right in front of us on the screen.

Syl Julie Christie provides a brilliant performance as Fiona Anderson, a mature attractive woman with Alzheimer's disease. As the disease progresses, her loving husband Grant Anderson (played brilliantly by Gordon Pinsent) puts her away in a nursing home where she is cared for round the clock. They have to spend the first month away from each other. When he does visit her, he is surprised to see her with Aubrey Park, a wheelchair bound man (played great by Michael Murphy). Despite a speechless performance, his facial expressions can say more than words could ever say. Anyway, Olympia Dukakis plays Aubrey's long-suffering wife, Marian. She does a great job in playing the role. Anyway, Grant visits his wife more than anybody else visits the home. While he must adjust to a life without her, it is painfully clear that she was his entire world. They were a childless couple of 44 years together. They lived in a beautiful home by the lake. I think Gordon Pinsent deserved equal recognition for his performance. Director and screenwriter, Sarah Polley weaves a tale of love and life in a realistic style. She is an up and coming director to watch out for. She brings and weaves a first rate cast with a realistic story.