My Beloved Bodyguard (2016)
Movie
A retired bodyguard suffering from dementia finds a new friend in a young girl. When her life is...
Snake Road
Book
This is shortlisted for the Encore Award. Peggy Kirkpatrick has been talking about a baby called...
The Bodyguard (2016)
5.0
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Movie
Martial arts drama, AKA My Beloved Bodyguard. A retired security officer with early symptoms of...
Spirituality, Religion, and Aging: Illuminations for Therapeutic Practice
Book
Taking a fresh approach that breaks new ground in the field, the author discusses eight major world...
Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated Supernova (2020) in Movies
Oct 29, 2021 (Updated Nov 2, 2021)
SUPERNOVA, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci and directed by Harry Macqueen and is certainly worth checking out in the cinema, it’s one of those short and powerful dramas that will touch your emotions right from the start.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Father (2020) in Movies
Jun 12, 2021
Positives:
- I was one of those disappointed that Chadwick Boseman didn’t posthumously win the Best Actor Oscar for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”. But, boy oh boy, after seeing this I am fully supportive of the Academy’s position. Anthony Hopkins has delivered some astonishingly powerful performances during his career – from the tortured ventriloquist in “Magic”, to Hannibal Lector to the elderly pope in “The Two Popes”. But he really excels himself here, tapping both your emotions and your sympathies as the confused and terrified old man.
- The Oscar- and BAFTA-winning screenplay by Florian Zeller, based on his stage play, is devastating, subtly twisting the knife. It will be particularly telling/upsetting for those who are getting on in years and/or have/had elderly parents affected by dementia. I would personally not have included (being deliberately vague) the “Williams entry” scene in the trailer, since it is a jolt of a twist in the film. But there are so many other clever devices in the screenplay that you don’t see coming. The ending in particular is brutal on the emotions.
- The production design (an Oscar nomination for Peter Francis and Cathy Featherstone) is ingenious, as the set subtly and progressively transforms. Almost a ‘spot the difference’ in movie form.
- The score by Ludovico Einaudi uses atonal strings to great effect, as Anthony’s reality keeps shifting from under him.
Negatives:
- I’ve nothing here, hence my 10-bomb rating. I’ve seen some reviews that have thought that the movie was too “stagey” (which is a criticism I have levelled before at a bunch of “stage to screen” adaptations such as “Fences” and – more recently – “One Night in Miami” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom“). But I really didn’t feel that way about “The Father”. The claustrophobic nature of the plot was well served I thought by the (largely) single set location.
Summary Thoughts on “The Father”: Dementia is a cruel and heartless disease that robs any affected elderly person of their memories, logic and – ultimately – their dignity. I thought the movie was extremely clever in reflecting this decline, anchored by the astonishing career-best performance from Sir Anthony Hopkins. But this in turns makes this a very hard watch indeed!
(For the full graphical review, check out the One Mann's Movies post here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/06/12/the-father-dementia-twists-the-strands-of-anthonys-personal-multiverse/ . Thanks.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Bodyguard (2016) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
The film may be a plea for consideration for dementia sufferers, but nobody watches it for that reason: people watch it for the sight of an obese man in his sixties battering the living daylights out of much younger stuntmen (much like every other recent Sammo Hung vehicle). However, the action sequences, though decent, are a long time coming, and most of the rest of the film is a slow-moving and sentimental melodrama which doesn't quite hit the spot despite decent performances from Sammo and Jacqueline Chan. (The tonal mismatch between all this and the bone-crunching, throat-slitting nature of the gangster scenes is considerable.) Fans of the big man may find this enjoyable enough to persevere with, but it's probably too slow and weird for everyone else.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Elizabeth is Missing in Books
Jul 27, 2017
While I loved the concept of raising awareness for dementia sufferers and how frustrating it can be to lose oneself, listening to this gave me a bit of a headache as it was far too long. This is definitely better as a book and not for Audible - you lose track of the Maud's meandering. And while it is based on the tragic circumstances of her sister's disappearance - I actually ended up losing focus over who she was actually talking about after a while. A good effort.
The Thought Gang
Book
A black comedy in the grand tradition of word-drunk intellectuals-en-dementia, "The Thought Gang"...
Gone but Not Forgotten
8.0
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Book
An elderly mother with dementia - and dark secrets. A daughter who's desperate to know the truth -...