Andy Sweet and Gary
Monroe traveled to Miami Beach and took photographs between 1976 and 1986. They realized that this was a
particularly unique community and it would not always be this way. They began taking pictures of the
Jewish retirees living in the area.
The rents were cheap, the climate was warm and there were many things to
do. The hotels had events for the
people to attend with food, dancing and just meeting other people like
themselves. Many of the people sat
in their lawn chairs on the grass and talked. Others went out the beach for sun tanning and swimming.
Andy and Gary snapped
pictures of the people as they were.
They wanted everything natural and not with posed images. They were right about times changing later. The hotels were deteriorating and
people didn’t want to live there anymore. Many refugees came into the community from the 1980 Mariel
boat lift and that brought a lot of crime and drug trafficking. Cocaine wars and riots. This situation left the elderly
residents isolated, lonely and fearful.
When the hotels were renovated and everything became Art Deco the rents
were not affordable anymore. 4* (I
really liked this movie)
70
min, Doc directed by Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch with Edna Buchanan, Susan
Gladstone, Stan Hughes, Mitchell Kaplan, Gary Monroe, Ellen Sweet Moss, Kelly
Reichardt.
Note: Imdb 7.3 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes,
91% critic 83% audience, indiewire.com B+ Jude Dry, filmthreat.com 9 out of 10
glasses of fresh-squeezed orange juice Paul Parcellin, Amazon 4* out of 5* with
7 reviews, Letterboxd average 3.3* out of 5*
Special
Note: Filmed in Miami, Florida. Interviews are with Susan Gladstone,
Director of the Jewish Museum of Florida, Kelly Reichardt, she grew up in South
Beach and Edna Buchanan, a crime novelist who grew up in Miami Beach where
covered crime for Miami newspapers.
Ellen Sweet Moss is the sister of Andy Sweet.
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