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Assisted Living

2005, Movie, NR, 77 mins

Assisted Living: Review

ASSISTED LIVING
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Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival, this gentle, day-in-the-life comedy from first-time writer-director Elliot Greenebaum seems to draw much of its inspiration from it's unique setting: an actual assisted-living facility for the elderly located in Greenebaum's home state of Kentucky. The title refers to both the cheery nursing home where aimless twentysomething Todd (Michael Bonsignore) works as an orderly and Todd's general approach to life: He finds living to be greatly assisted by the copious amounts of weed he smokes while on the job. Unfortunately, his wake-and-bake lifestyle means Todd is routinely late for work, and he's called onto the carpet by the home's tippling administrator, Hance Purcell (Clint Vaught). Todd's approach to the residents is also a cause for some concern: One of his favorite games in the one in which he pretends to be God calling from Heaven and tells the resident on the other end of the phone just what they can expect when the get there. Despite his many flaws, Todd has become the favorite of one of the facility's more prickly personalities, Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley), an elderly woman who's convinced that it's only a matter of time before her son gets himself settled in Australia and finally sends for her. Whether or not Mrs. Pearlman is deluding herself about Australia, she can be brutally honest with Todd about the state of her health: She's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Greenebaum originally planned on using the facility and its real-life residents to craft a film that would play around with the boundaries that separate documentary from fictional modes of filmmaking (always a risky proposition, unless you happen to be Abbas Kiarostami). While he eventually opted to keep the documentary aspect of his idea as background to a scripted story, his finished film retains a strong sense of naturalism that fits with Greenebaum's determination to present a realistically flawed protagonist whose hazy, often thoughtless efforts to keep himself entertained while sincerely trying to help can have dire consequences. Depressing? Far from it: Greenebaum's film deals honestly with the elderly without a trace of condescension, and it can be very funny. The chemistry between Todd and Mrs. Pearlman is often wonderful, but the film's best moments are those which show the facility's residents simply doing what they do: exercising, playing pool, playing bingo, or practicing to be more assertive with a stuffed "assertiveness monkey." While never shying away from the unavoidable facts aging, particularly the devastating effects of diseases like Alzheimer's, Greenebaum manages to portray old-age as a condition with its own peculiar beauty and considerable grace. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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