Saturday, September 12, 2009

Another Harvest Moon

I was alerted to this film in the comments section of a recent post

And I just have to say, it's about freakin' time someone made a movie about life in a retirement home/assisted-living facility. 



Also, it looks like the movie deals with quality-of-life issues, withholding treatment, and the right to die. I'm very curious to see it, and I hope others go to the movie and have lots of conversation afterwards. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i agree... it ain't just about living ... it is about LIFE...

js

Gail Rae said...

I haven't been able to determine when, or if, this movie will be hitting theaters, even though it's apparently appeared at two film festivals. However, in case any of your visitors are interested, this link to the "official" website of Another Harvest Moon is to the page that features seven video clips from the movie. According to the site, it looks as though distribution rights were only recently determined in early November, so it may be awhile before a schedule is established. I'm with you.
I'm looking forward to this movie. Although I'm familiar with a few portrayals of nursing homes in the movies Savages and Cocoon and, very peripherally in Marvin's Room, Driving Miss Daisy and an assisted living facility in Rain Man, for instance, it looks as though this new movie has tried to break through some nursing home stereotypes. Not that there isn't (much) truth in those stereotypes, but they aren't the whole truth.

Gail Rae said...

Oops! I just realized I left out the most recent and most famous of "nursing home movies" and, likely, the one with the most scenes of nursing home life, Away From Her. I'm sure I left it out because I don't own a copy of this movie and wasn't thrilled with it, at least not in a positive way regarding its portrayals of Alzheimer's caregiving or nursing homes. It was, primarily, a movie about a relationship that encounters a particular type of stress.

Jessica Knapp said...

Wow. Okay Gail, you totally schooled me. You're right; all of those movies deal with assisted-living facilities in some light.

This does seem like a film-festival, independent movie. I mean, I heard about it because someone working on it sent a comment to my blog. Not to be completely self-deprecating, but that wouldn't happen if it was getting major distribution :) So, you're right, it will probably be a bit before national theaters pick it up. And if that doesn't happen, now that we all have Netflix, we can at least get it on DVD.

I never saw Away From Her, and I really wanted to. I did read the story, and I loved it. I should check it out ... or add it to my que. No one "checks out" movies anymore do they?