Creatively Aging

I’m not a fan of most blockbuster movies but somehow summer and movies are inexorably linked in my mind. Beach books too (but I’ll save that for another post!). And so movies were already on my mind when recently several caught my attention.

The first was a few weeks ago in the Washington, D.C. area as I came across the American Film Insitute’s festival, SilverDocs. Three movies were singled out as being particularly worthy of attention in reviews and all three were about the experience of aging! How lucky can we be. As one review was titled : Close-up On the Elderly.

The next reminder about movies and aging in a e-mail when someone I know admitted seeing Away From Her over the weekend. Entertainment can simply be that, entertaining but it is special when entertainment can teach as well as amuse or titillate. Away From Her is just such.

Another recent tap was in my local paper with a notice about a graduate student at a  local university whose made a personal story into documentary on living with Alzheimer’s Disease and front lobal dementia. Dear Dad I haven’t been able to see but it is gaining local (and or regional) acclaim. Let’s hope it gets shown nearby, and soon!