Documentary film blends almost seamlessly with fictional storytelling in Elliot Greenebaum's engagingly loose-limbed tale of a good-natured but irresponsible attendant in a Kentucky nursing home who develops a real concern for one of his patients (the small-scaled film was shot in an actual facility, with the actors sharing the screen with residents and staff members). Todd (Michael Bonsignore) is initially seen as a goof-off slacker, but he matures when he's assigned to care for Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley), an Alzheimer's patient who mistakes him for her son. Assisted Living is most interesting and effective early on, successfully balancing the real and dramatic elements in a jerky, semi-chaotic collage with overtones of cinema vérité, but as the film progresses, and the focus shifts to the relationship between Todd and Mrs. Pearlman, the narrative enters more conventional territory and brushes perilously close to sentimentality. Still, this brief, technically modest picture says more about aging in America, and our avoidance of the realities of death and dying, than most of the sweet but false fables Hollywood has manufactured about the elderly. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
Assisted Living
Hart Sharp, 78 min., not rated, DVD: $19.99, Jan. 10 Volume 21, Issue 1
Assisted Living
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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