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Author Archives: rinaross
MY FRIEND AND ALZHEIMER
It was the time when there were major reorganisations of the National Health Service and I was not prepared to give up the lab I worked in. I was part/time in this lab where I specialised in EEG and involved … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, alzheimer, friends
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23 WALKS (2020)
How I miss my older-women-in film groups. Both the Brent U3A one and the Ealing Oldies Network group. Both groups were very well attended (no fewer than 8 in bad weather and up to 40 people per session) by older … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, alzheimer, audience responses, care homes, carers, critics, dementia, family, FILM RECEPTION, grief
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LOVE AND DEMENTIA
On 31 Jan 2021, at 17:49, Rina Rosselson <rinaross@mac.com> wrote: Why is it that the film Amour is often quoted in reviews of Still Mine? And do all stories with old couples fall into the same genre? Isn’t Still Mine also a film about dementia? … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, alzheimer, care, care homes, carers, dementia, documentary, Film Analysis
Tagged dementia, family, hospitalisation, love, memory loss, old couple
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MUM AND ME – DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD
The newly released film on Netflix: Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson is Dead (2020) reminded me of the blog I wrote in October 2008: Sue Bourne’s Mum and Me. Both documentary film makers made the films about a relative. Sue’s about … Continue reading
OLD AGE AND CARE : Amour, Chronic, A Woman’s Tale
Autoethnography Isolated from family and friends under tier 4, unable to research with any enthusiasm I have decided to end the writing of 2020.But first I must come back to my blog of December 19th, where I touched on an … Continue reading
NEW PATH : DEMENTIA IN FILMS….
In my plan to write about and study films about dementias I realise that the research involved is too complex and beyond my available time and interest. I know nothing about horror films and it seems to me that it … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, alzheimer, carers, family, Film Analysis
Tagged dementia
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STILL ALICE (2014)
I was distracted from my blog about the subject of Couple Separations In Feature Films by Nicole Davis’s article in the Guardian. (see Film And Dementias in the Guardian) In my research about the representation of old women in feature … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
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AWAY FROM HER (2008) and Still Alice (2014)
Of all couple separations the separation due to dementia can be the most painful. Major illnesses in a partner, a child are also difficult to live through. It is the erasing of the partner and his/her annihilation that is unbearably … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, alzeihmer, alzheimer, care, care homes, Film Analysis, film noir, grief, horror films, old couple separation, three generations of women
Tagged care home, dementia
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FILMS AND DEMENTIAS
I was about to write about Away From Her when I caught a surprising article in the Guardian online. FACING THE FEAR : CINEMA FINALLY CONFR0NTS THE REALITY OF DEMENTIA by Nicole Davis I have been diagnosed as suffering from … Continue reading
COUPLE RELATIONSHIP IN AMOUR
There are two big films about old couples in my list of blogs : Amour and Iris. I did not think that Iris was entirely fiction and I did not include it in my studies. However I mentioned it because … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, audience responses, care, death, love, old couple separation
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INNOCENCE (2000)
Why did I pair Cloud9 and Innocence? After 20 years of examining films about older women I wonder. The two films have little in common except sexual desire and sexual scenes. The first has been lauded the other neglected. The … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
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CLOUD 9 (2008)
Old couple separation: Two films come to mind when I consider an older woman who leaves her husband for another man. Innocence (2000) and Cloud9 (2009). Innocence was not distributed in UK but I still remember the fuss made by … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
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Death of Wife: Tokyo Story.
“Critics have frequently observed that Ozu Yasujiro’s Tokyo monogatari (Tokyo Story, 1953) was inspired by Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow (1937). David Bordwell sees Ozu as “recasting” the American film – borrowing from it, adapting it – and briefly … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, classic, classic film, critics, death, family, Film Analysis, FILM RECEPTION, grief, intergenerational relationships, old couple separation
Tagged Ozu
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COUPLE SEPARATION
June. Already ten weeks in lockdown and the stress of the pandemic is starting to bite. Forced to change my activities and interests. My social life, film blog and film research neglected are replaced by housekeeping chores and occasional Zoom … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, old couple separation
Tagged care homes, family conflcts, memories, old couple separation, reminiscences
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EPILOGUE (HAYUTA VE BERL) 2012
March 1st. 2020 I was looking for a film to present to our Secular Jewish group and I suddenly thought of EPILOGUE dir: Amir Manor shown at the BFI festival in 2012 that had impressed me. Amour and Quartet also … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, Ageism, critics, FILM RECEPTION, israel, marital disagreement
Tagged father son, israel, marital conflict, marital relationship, old couple, old people poverty, racism, suicide
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QUARTET (2012)
It was a pleasure to meet again with EON members (Ealing Over 60 Network) to watch a film together. I chose Quartet (2012) for this session. There were 21 people. As usual male presence was of 3 only. Personally I … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, alzheimer, audience responses, care homes, critics, FILM RECEPTION, love
Tagged Alzheimer's, Billi Connoly, friendship, Michael Gambon, music, musicians, Pauline Collins, stage fright, Tom Courtenay
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Shoplifters (2018) – Palme d’Or Cannes – Director Kore-eda
I did not grasp all the richness of this film on my first viewing in the cinema. As a rule I make a point of not reading the reviews or synopsis before seeing a film. What struck me in the … Continue reading
AFTER THE STORM (2016)
AFTER THE STORM ( 2016) Warm and equal relationships between old woman and adult daughter are very rare in the films I have written about. Kore Eda in Still Walking (2008) portrays mother and daughter conversing and cooking together but the … Continue reading
THE FAREWELL ( 2019)
The Farewell Of all the films featuring an old woman that I have seen and written about none has coincided with my experiences as much as this film. I saw it in my local cinema on a Saturday at 18h … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, death, family, outsiders, three generations of women
Tagged exile, family, wedding, wedding banquet
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POETRY (2010) -2-
Recently, a friend recommended Lucy Bolton’s chapter The Intertextual Stardom of Iris: Winslet, Dench, Murdoch, and Alzheimer’s Disease,Feminisms: Diversity, Difference and Multiplicity in Contemporary Film Cultures (2015). This took me years back before I started my blog. Coming back to … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Ageism, alzheimer, care, critics, death, family
Tagged 66 year old woman, Azheimer, carer/cleaner, corruption, gangrape, poetry, policeman, rape, suicide, teenagers
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POETRY (2010)
POETRY (2010) How did I miss this great film featuring a 66 years old grandmother? Directed by Lee Chang-dong, it won the 2010 Cannes Best Screenplay Award and many more. I discovered it recently while searching for films that have … Continue reading
My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010) take 2
Brent U3A film group session. We were 5 women and 2 men. None of the group attending had seen the film when I showed it in 2011. In my post then I concentrated on the representation of the old … Continue reading
STILL WALKING (2008)
This is an aide-memoir about Kore-eda wonderful film. I have to wait until a DVD is made available so I can relish again with more focus on the old married couple and their mixed feelings about their children and family … Continue reading
HANNAH (2018)
I missed seeing Hannah (2018) on the big screen. This film co-funded by Euroimages of the Council of Europe did not get a wide distribution in London but a friend alerted me. She recommended the most depressing film about an … Continue reading
THE MOTHER (2003) revisited
Thoughts of P. Case member of the Ealing Over 60 Network. Pam could not stay for the discussion. She was not present when I had mentioned that some academics proposed that the film provoke our prior conceptions and values that … Continue reading
ETERNITY AND A DAY (1998)
There is a huge difference between my reactions to Eternity and a Day in my early 60s and now at 84. In 1998 Central Station was also released . At the time I focused my attentionon the representation of old … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, audience responses, classic, classic film, death, family, Film Analysis, FILM RECEPTION, grief, love, outsiders
Tagged Angelopoulos, bus, childhood, couple, death, dementia, exile, family home, flashbacks, introspections, last days, love, memories, mother, poems, poet, refugee children, refugees, sea and drowning, selling of children, the sea, time frame in films
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“Time Goes By” quote: Ronni Bennett on films
In the media hubbub surrounding the recent Academy Awards, I saw a headline announcing that movie producers are now embracing older actors and stories about old people. No, they are not – not unless their name is Judi Dench or … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
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SWEET BEANS (2015)
I have been unable to attend the Brent U3A Film Group for a while but did manage it this month and saw Sweet Bean (2015). I had missed it at London Film Festival three years ago and looked forward to … Continue reading
Ali Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Fear eats the soul at EON (1974) Attendance at the film session was 25 this month. Unfortunately my voice recorder failed me and I am unable to report objectively on the very astute, lively, animated contributions. All the aspects of … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, ageing couple, Ageism, audience responses, classic, Film Analysis
Tagged fassbinder, foreign worker, looks, love, objectivisation, prejudice
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STILL WALKING (2008)
Still Walking (2008) As with some family reunions, my second viewing of Still Walking was quite painful. I saw it at home with a cousin with whom I had shared family reunions in my youth. Her general comment was: there … Continue reading →