A Year and a Day

In an age of fluff and pseudo-hipness, it's refreshing to watch a movie that provides a personal take on family care-taking and growing old in America. Robert Lane looks at the way we see each other as human beings in an urban environment. Never is the city in which he places his character revealed. That doesn't matter. For we're going on a spiritual quest, whether we like it or not. And it ain't pretty. Having written and directed this film, Lane gives us a scathing and satirical glance into the way in which the American system treats its infirm and elderly. The point Lane makes in his movie sticks in you like a knife: we might not even like our mothers (shame on us) but we must love them. They are blood, they are family, no matter what. And we need compassion in our society. The old, sick and dying need to be treated with dignity, regardless, and well-cared for. We too, must deal with their dying. And in going through this process, we'll no longer be the same. This is a redemption tale, darkly funny, but poignantly tragic too, one that remains with you long after it's over. Because it isn't over. You're lead to think about your own parents, your ambivalence,your future and theirs. Not easy viewing always, but intensely rewarding for being just that.