Pop

When asked if he would like a sweet potato with his meal at a restaurant, Hy "Pop" Meyerowitz tells the waitress, "if you've got it hangin' around, doing nothin'." It's a funny response and it cracks up the 87-year-old Pop's traveling companions, his son Joel and grandson Sasha, as well as the audience. But the laughter is bittersweet, since Hy has Alzheimer's: several times a day on this filmed two-week road trip with three generations of Meyerowitz men from Florida to New York (Hy's birthplace), Hy suddenly looks to his right in the backseat of the Lincoln town-car and asks "where's Mother?" A daring study, celebrated photographer Joel Meyerowitz's Pop unflinchingly yet compassionately holds a mirror up to his father's condition (while also proving that he is much more than his illness), occasionally cutting away for heartbreaking older footage or pictures of Hy as a younger man, doing Chaplin impersonations, swooping his lovely young bride into his arms, or playing with his sons. Almost childlike, Hy is semi-aware of his condition ("if what I say doesn't make sense, that's unfortunate"), and while he does occasionally stray off into imaginary conversations and strings of non sequiturs, he can also be quite lucid, even luminescent. The heartbreaking scenes of Hy telling his wife on the phone "you're continuous on my mind," or--out of nowhere--saying to his son and grandson "everybody, I'm sure, is sorry that they have to go," are leavened by moments of touching humor (spying a nickel on the ground, he bends over and deadpans to his companions: "no goosing"). Joel Meyerowitz's Pop is an incredible achievement, successfully skirting the exploitative, while never stooping to paint a falsely glowing picture of a devastating illness. Powerful viewing at a very affordable price, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)