Eclipse Series 24: THE ACTUALITY DRAMAS OF ALLAN KING: KING, Allan: Memory For Max, Claire, Ida And Company (2005)

KING, Allan (Canada)
Memory For Max, Claire, Ida And Company [2005]
Eclipse Series 24
DVD

Allan King brings us in close to the people who reside and work in a home for geriatric care in this beautifully conceived, powerful documentary. For four months, King follows the daily routines of eight patients suffering from dementia and memory loss; the result is searing, compassionate drama that can lead the viewer to a greater understanding of his or her loved ones.

112 minutes

Color

Stereo

1:78:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2010

Director

Allan King was 75 when he directed Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company.

Other King films in the Collection:

Eclipse Series 24: Warrrendale (1967)
Eclipse Series 24: A Married Couple (1969)
Eclipse Series 24: Come On Children (1972)
Eclipse Series 24: Dying At Grace (2003)

The Film

A companion piece for Dying at Grace, this actuality drama focuses on a half-dozen or so residents of the Baycrest Geriatric Health Care System, a Jewish nursing home.

Claire and Max make an adorable couple (later Claire can’t recall that her first husband was also named Max). Max shuffles along with his cane through the empty hallways — he seems to be escaping from the reality of his decline — or perhaps, more humorously — from the constant chit-chat of the women!

King’s camera never lingers too long. We delve into the sad deterioration of the others, in varying degrees. Ida keeps insisting that her husband’s picture graces the walls of the entrance, and the staff searches diligently until they finally find it. They give her a repro photograph, and she can identify her husband, but not the names of her children.

Similarly, poor Fay is frantic about her son’s visit. When he finally arrives, she’s in a near hysterical state. In one scene, she seems to calm down enough to remember a neighbor who used to come to her house for breakfast, because his own wife didn’t make any.

**

This is perhaps an even sadder watch experience than King’s previous film about dying — these people are all going — slipping by, day by day.

There is a bit of humor as we watch the dentist, Murray, try to pick up one of the nurses.

Which, of course, brings us to the real heroes of this drama — the patient and caring staff of (mostly) young people (many of color) who lovingly tend to these dying patients with a smile and a few boxes of Kleenex.

Film Rating (0-100):

86

By Director
By Spine #