Marvin's Room
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Features
• PAL
In Theaters : 1997 |
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Marvin's Room Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
Very good film, with minor flaws...
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This film is over a decade old and is a gem overall. It deals with what has become all too common these days, care of our elderly (and sometimes relatives, and parents) and how such situations can often tear surviving family members and families, even extended ones, apart. While it does not deal with "wealth" as it often concerns better senior citizen medical and "nursing" home conditions and treatment, or how the whole corrupt medical "industry" in general mistreats the most innocent among us (only they're "old"), or any overt political/social issues, it indeed succeeds in showing the human (and "family") costs of its general subject. Especially in estranged and squabbling potential and actual "caretakers."
Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diane Keaton, Robert DeNiro and Hume Cronyn lead a truly stellar cast in telling the sad, sometimes darkly at othertimes lighthearted humorous, and dramatic tale of a few individuals in a family who are trying to decide the best interests and care of their aging and bed-ridden, demented and childlike, elder.
Diane Keaton has been the caretaker for years of Hume Cronyn, her father. And that of Meryl Streep as well, though the latter has been out of touch for years, and has two kids, and long ago made the decision to concentrate on her own life rather than give needed aid to her sister. Meryl has two kids, one a troublesome teenager in Leonardo. Diane is dying of cancer, struggling to offer personal home health care to her dying father, with a limited income, and only another aging, half-crazed "aunt" to help her. When Keaton's character is diagnosed by DeNiro (who is sort of wasted here), she contacts Streep to come down to Florida and "visit."
What follows is a real trip, and the introductory scenes of exposition are very well done. When Keaton and Streep finally meet up, so much comes from them, and they interact in extremely stressful and at times, combative ways. Leonardo's character is fully realized and he makes not only an amazing transformation from beginning to end, but in a way, is the catalyst for a reconcilliation between the feuding sisters.
Filled with genuine pathos and ironic and subtle humor, and great performances by all, "Marvin's Room" will touch anyone (like me) who has ever dealt with the emotional storms behind family conflicts in dealing with just how to deal with our elders, and how it all interacts (and sometimes selfishingly interferes) with individual lives, lifestyles, and "survivor" plans for the near and far future. Even if you have not been involved in similar situations however, there is enough generally good stuff here to dent even the most hardened soul.
Despite the star power, direction is linear and creative, production values and sets while obviously not budget-heavy, do a great job, and in the end, these enhance what could have been a more "downer" film than it might've been. There are many enchanting and challenging sequences scattered throughout which make this a movie worth repeated viewings, if for no other reason, to catch so many subtle and effective nuances. And there are many scenes and lines and interactions to keep it all moving at a good and entertaining manner.
While this could've easily been a "Lifetime" or other low budget, non-theatrical release, the celebrity actor heavy track, never interferes with what is one of the few Hollywood films to deal with this general subject at all, and remains ten years later, one of the best to do so. With "death" all around, all the characters are right out of many, many real life stories of a lot of us, but eventually, despite all of it, the movie has a life affirming, positive message in the end.
While I wished the movie's beginnings were trimmed and the endings expanded and elaborated on, this film is overall a winner, and except for minor detours and missteps along the way, should satisfy anyone with a basically decent heart and a recognition of simply "doing the right thing" when it comes to family and elder-care issues and individual concerns, needs, and wants. Lastly, a big thumbs up for the subtle but excellent use of music here, with special note of the truly wonderful Carly Simon song "Two Little Sisters," which plays over the end credits. |
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