Screened as part of NZIFF 2006

Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company 2005

Directed by Allan King

Allan King’s insightful, utterly compassionate film about Alzheimer’s, aging and memory loss was shot over four months at a Jewish geriatric care facility in Toronto.

Canada In English
112 minutes DigiBeta

Director

Photography

Peter Walker

Editor

Nick Hector

Sound

Jason Milligan

Music

Robert Carli

With

Max Trachter
,
Claire Mandell
,
Ida Orliffe
,
Beverly Zwaigen
,
Helen Mosten-Growe
,
Fay Silverman
,
Ruth Kogon
,
Rachel Baker
,
Fred Baker

Festivals

Toronto, Vancouver 2005; Berlin 2006

Elsewhere

“When you're 80, you have the privilege to forget whatever you want.” When this is said towards the end of Allan King’s insightful, utterly compassionate film about aging and memory loss, a hospital visitor is reminding her elderly father that the wise words were his. He’s delighted to hear that he should ever have been so witty – and the film has taken us so deep into his world that we share his elation at having some lucid sense of himself take hold for a moment. Shot over four months with the participation of residents, families, friends and caregivers at a comfortable Jewish geriatric care facility in Toronto, the film introduces us to eight residents struggling persistently to maintain identity despite memory loss. For those of us fortunate enough not to have encountered Alzheimer’s, this is an incredibly informative film. “We do not lose our feelings, our identity, or our need for love, attention, and respect as we lose cognitive skills,” says King. “Our needs are magnified and deserve to be met.” It’s hard to imagine the sorry soul who could watch this sad, but surprisingly undepressing, film and disagree. — BG