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Assisted Living By David DiCerto Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Assisted Living" (Economic Projections) is a modest but poignant docudrama that follows a 27-year-old slacker, Todd (Michael Bonsignore), through his final day as a janitor at a suburban nursing home. Though well-liked, he tries his boss' patience with his chronic tardiness, frequent breaks -- during which he sneaks outside to smoke marijuana -- and monotony-breaking diversions, including telephoning residents and saying he is a deceased relative, giving them the illusion of talking to their dearly departed in heaven. (Though it sounds like a cruel prank, it is done with the best intentions.) In the course of the day, he grows as a person, gaining maturity and a deeper appreciation of life through an unlikely friendship he develops with an elderly resident, Mrs. Pearlman (Maggie Riley), who is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and who mistakes him for her absent son. Seamlessly blending real life with fiction, the film incorporates into its narrative footage of actual residents and staff at the Kentucky facility where "Assisted Living" was filmed. Though only a minor element, the movie's fleeting drug content precludes it from an A-II classification. Still, in our culture, which holds the elderly at arm's length and generally feels at best uncomfortable with old age, the film's underlying message of intergenerational connection may be of positive value to older adolescents. Directed by first-timer Elliot Greenebaum, "Assisted Living" manages, despite its no-frills look, to offer a moving meditation on loneliness and the human need for contact and compassion. The film contains some recreational drug usage and brief crude expressions. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. It is not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. - - - DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. END Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
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