Assisted Living
Cowboy Pictures
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Writer-director Elliot Greenebaum's feature debut is a curious film with real heart but questionable technique. This art house fodder is just quirky and fresh enough to catch on with audiences. Set (and filmed) in an assisted living facility in Louisville, Ky., "Assisted Living" is a docudrama that uses the actual house residents as extras and bit players. The staff portrayed in the movie are all actors, with the exception of the eccentric chaplain Jose Albovias, who plays himself.
The story concerns a day in the life of Todd (Michael Bonsignore), an orderly at the Meadow View retirement home. Todd is a scruffy, pot-smoking slacker who has been warned by his alcoholic boss (Clint Vaught) to mend his ways or lose his job. Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley, a film neophyte with a great face), who uses a wheelchair, feels an affinity toward Todd. Mrs. Pearlman slips in and out of dementia, occasionally confusing Todd with her own son. She knows that Alzheimer's is slowly destroying her lucidity. And when Todd feigns to be her son calling from Australia, Mrs. Pearlman becomes so distraught she needs medical attention.
Greenebaum and cinematographer Marcel Cabrera shot the mock-interview sequences of staff members on DV, while the rest of the movie utilizes Super 16 stock. Much of the movie looks amateurish, and the film has no real arc. Todd doesn't change significantly during the course of these events, except to forge a closer friendship with Mrs. Pearlman. The movie never achieves a real rhythm. But Bonsignore possesses a likable screen presence, and the movie isn't without charm.
Greenebaum sustains a melancholic atmosphere and possesses a genuine vision. Freedom is an illusion in the world of "Assisted Living": We're all headed toward the same inescapable end. In time, Greenebaum might acquire the necessary technical and narrative skills to match his humane vision.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Writer-director Elliot Greenebaum's feature debut is a curious film with real heart but questionable technique. This art house fodder is just quirky and fresh enough to catch on with audiences. Set (and filmed) in an assisted living facility in Louisville, Ky., "Assisted Living" is a docudrama that uses the actual house residents as extras and bit players. The staff portrayed in the movie are all actors, with the exception of the eccentric chaplain Jose Albovias, who plays himself.
The story concerns a day in the life of Todd (Michael Bonsignore), an orderly at the Meadow View retirement home. Todd is a scruffy, pot-smoking slacker who has been warned by his alcoholic boss (Clint Vaught) to mend his ways or lose his job. Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley, a film neophyte with a great face), who uses a wheelchair, feels an affinity toward Todd. Mrs. Pearlman slips in and out of dementia, occasionally confusing Todd with her own son. She knows that Alzheimer's is slowly destroying her lucidity. And when Todd feigns to be her son calling from Australia, Mrs. Pearlman becomes so distraught she needs medical attention.
Greenebaum and cinematographer Marcel Cabrera shot the mock-interview sequences of staff members on DV, while the rest of the movie utilizes Super 16 stock. Much of the movie looks amateurish, and the film has no real arc. Todd doesn't change significantly during the course of these events, except to forge a closer friendship with Mrs. Pearlman. The movie never achieves a real rhythm. But Bonsignore possesses a likable screen presence, and the movie isn't without charm.
Greenebaum sustains a melancholic atmosphere and possesses a genuine vision. Freedom is an illusion in the world of "Assisted Living": We're all headed toward the same inescapable end. In time, Greenebaum might acquire the necessary technical and narrative skills to match his humane vision.
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Assisted Living
Cowboy Pictures
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Writer-director Elliot Greenebaum's feature debut is a curious film with real heart but questionable technique. This art house fodder is just quirky and fresh enough to catch on with audiences. Set (and filmed) in an assisted living facility in Louisville, Ky., "Assisted Living" is a docudrama that uses the actual house residents as extras and bit players. The staff portrayed in the movie are all actors, with the exception of the eccentric chaplain Jose Albovias, who plays himself.
The story concerns a day in the life of Todd (Michael Bonsignore), an orderly at the Meadow View retirement home. Todd is a scruffy, pot-smoking slacker who has been warned by his alcoholic boss (Clint Vaught) to mend his ways or lose his job. Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley, a film neophyte with a great face), who uses a wheelchair, feels an affinity toward Todd. Mrs. Pearlman slips in and out of dementia, occasionally confusing Todd with her own son. She knows that Alzheimer's is slowly destroying her lucidity. And when Todd feigns to be her son calling from Australia, Mrs. Pearlman becomes so distraught she needs medical attention.
Greenebaum and cinematographer Marcel Cabrera shot the mock-interview sequences of staff members on DV, while the rest of the movie utilizes Super 16 stock. Much of the movie looks amateurish, and the film has no real arc. Todd doesn't change significantly during the course of these events, except to forge a closer friendship with Mrs. Pearlman. The movie never achieves a real rhythm. But Bonsignore possesses a likable screen presence, and the movie isn't without charm.
Greenebaum sustains a melancholic atmosphere and possesses a genuine vision. Freedom is an illusion in the world of "Assisted Living": We're all headed toward the same inescapable end. In time, Greenebaum might acquire the necessary technical and narrative skills to match his humane vision.
MILL VALLEY, Calif. -- Writer-director Elliot Greenebaum's feature debut is a curious film with real heart but questionable technique. This art house fodder is just quirky and fresh enough to catch on with audiences. Set (and filmed) in an assisted living facility in Louisville, Ky., "Assisted Living" is a docudrama that uses the actual house residents as extras and bit players. The staff portrayed in the movie are all actors, with the exception of the eccentric chaplain Jose Albovias, who plays himself.
The story concerns a day in the life of Todd (Michael Bonsignore), an orderly at the Meadow View retirement home. Todd is a scruffy, pot-smoking slacker who has been warned by his alcoholic boss (Clint Vaught) to mend his ways or lose his job. Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley, a film neophyte with a great face), who uses a wheelchair, feels an affinity toward Todd. Mrs. Pearlman slips in and out of dementia, occasionally confusing Todd with her own son. She knows that Alzheimer's is slowly destroying her lucidity. And when Todd feigns to be her son calling from Australia, Mrs. Pearlman becomes so distraught she needs medical attention.
Greenebaum and cinematographer Marcel Cabrera shot the mock-interview sequences of staff members on DV, while the rest of the movie utilizes Super 16 stock. Much of the movie looks amateurish, and the film has no real arc. Todd doesn't change significantly during the course of these events, except to forge a closer friendship with Mrs. Pearlman. The movie never achieves a real rhythm. But Bonsignore possesses a likable screen presence, and the movie isn't without charm.
Greenebaum sustains a melancholic atmosphere and possesses a genuine vision. Freedom is an illusion in the world of "Assisted Living": We're all headed toward the same inescapable end. In time, Greenebaum might acquire the necessary technical and narrative skills to match his humane vision.
- 10/13/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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