If you read the Caregiverlist® Blog: Caring for the Caregiver with any frequency, you know I’m a movie fanatic. Over the years I’ve recapped quite a few movies that deal with Alzheimer’s and other memory loss diseases, aging, and even senior caregiver robots.
If you subscribe to movie streaming service Netflix, here’s your opportunity to catch some of those great movies and documentaries on the privacy of your own device. Here’s some of the titles you’ll find in December:
Alive Inside
This moving documentary shows the power of music on the mind. Social worker Dan Cohen uses music to reawaken memory in nursing-home patients afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Advanced Style
Another documentary, this movie follows seven New York City women in their 80s and 90s who refuse to become invisible in a culture that values youth. Photographer and blogger Ari Seth Cohen has been documenting stylish seniors in NYC since 2008 and has now brought some of his most eccentric subjects to life in this film. Reviews are divided, however, between viewers who admire these ladies’ outrageousness and those who feel the aged should be a little more dignified.
Quartet
Dustin Hoffman directs this film about a trio of retired opera singers as they prepare for their annual gala concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday. Maggie Smith is their estranged fourth arrives and refuses to participate. With Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins.
Robot & Frank
It’s nice when caregivers and care recipients share interests. Companion caregiver robots are already more fact than fiction, so the premise of this film is not so far out of the realm of reality. Set some time in the near future, elderly Frank’s son and daughter are concerned he can no longer live alone. Rather than place him in a nursing home, Frank’s son gets him a talking humanoid robot programmed to provide care. Lucky for Frank, a retired cat burglar, the robot’s talents extend beyond basic senior care. Be warned, however—some caregivers have found the ending a little bleak. With Frank Langella, James Mardsen, Liv Tyler.
Take some time out from watching holiday classics to enjoy some of these senior-related films. Do you have favorites that are not on this list?
