Unfortunately, due to horrible traffic in South Beach, Miami, I missed the start of this film – which is a real shame, as I’m sure I missed some really important set-ups and character development. I also ended up having to sit in the aisle of the theatre, as it was completely sold out, which wasn’t tremendously comfortable. However, regardless of what actually happened at the start of the film, or the fact that my seat was in fact the floor, as soon as I started watching, I was instantly hooked. This is a really sweet movie, and there was definitely a few people exiting the theatre with tears in their eyes.
It’s a simple story about a mother and son relationship. The son is a highly regarded Icelandic film director, who has recently put all his money and attention towards a movie about a whole lot of “old people” escaping from a retirement home. The mother is an aging woman who has recently lost her husband, and is slowly starting to loose her mind as well, due to Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately the film, “Children of Nature” (which is actually the director of the film poking fun at his own Oscar-nominated film) doesn’t do to well at the box office, and is set to drive the man broke. Undaunted – he sets his sights high. If he gets an Oscar nod, then he hopes that Icelanders will rush to the theatre and he’ll be “back in the black”. Unfortunately, apart from his mum, no one seems to actually like the film.
This films deals with a problem that a lot of families have all over the world – what’s the best way to deal with aging parents, especially when they start needing more and more care and attention when they get older. How long can a widowed elderly person stay at home, before a nursing home becomes a much “safer” option? This is a semi-autobiographical story (it’s a tribute to the directors own mum) told with a huge amount of compassion and humour. It looks great, and is very moving. Although this kind of film has been done before – you can just tell that this film was created very close to the directors heart, and he really put a lot of love and attention to it. It’s fairly predictable – but I guess that’s just life – you live, then eventually, you pass away, hopefully after an amazing journey. This film has some great moments – both heart felt and seriously funny. Worth checking out…