What They Had 2018

     Nick has asked his sister Bridget to return home to help the family deal with their ailing mother.  Their father is reluctant to let go of the life he has with his wife/their mother.  Ruth has Alzheimer’s disease and her husband Burt cannot tolerate the idea of putting Ruth in a care home.  Nick and Bridget feel they just don’t have the patience that Burt has?  Ruth got up in the middle of the night during a blizzard.  She put on her shoes and boarded a train to her childhood home.  Ruth thinks she still lives at home with her parents.  She is worried that her parents were concerned that she was out so late?

     After Ruth is taken back to her home with Burt, conflict begins between Nick and Burt.  Nick has called Bridget hoping she would back up his plan to put Ruth in a memory care center since Bridget has power of attorney.  Burt won’t hear of putting her in a center.  He thinks no one will look after Ruth as well as he does?  Bridget agrees with Nick that the best for Ruth is to put her in the memory care center.  But, Bridget doesn’t want to butt heads with Burt over this.  The tension of Ruth’s condition has opened up old grievances and conflicts between the family members.  Ruth isn’t the focus and her disease is not the focal point of a lot of their arguments.  The family is in crisis and Ruth’s illness has brought their own personal problems into sharp focus.  This film does have its funny moments!!  There are laughable moments over what Ruth is thinking and what she says because of her illness. The only way to solve any of these problems is for Burt, Bridget and Nick to get on the same page!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)      

101 min, Drama directed by Elizabeth Chomko with Hilary Swank, Michael Shannon, Robert Forester, Blythe Danner, Taissa Farmiga, Josh Lucas, Sarah Sutherland, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Aimee Garcia, William Smillie, Isabeau Dornevil, Jennifer Robideau, Jay Montepare, Ann Whitney.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes, 87% critic 83% audience, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Cath Clarke, RollingStone 4* out of 5* Peter Travers, Variety 4* out of 5* Dennis Harvey, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 203 reviews, Metacritic 69 out of 100 with 25 critics 7.1 out of 10 with 10 user scores.

Special Note:  Filmed in Chicago, Illinois.  This is the debut film of writer/director Elizabeth Chomoko.  This film is partly based on her own experiences with her grandmother.  Other films about Alzheimer’s are Iris 2001, Away from Her 2006 and Still Alice 2014.