Now showing: Intriguing mix of movies about caregiving, dementia, elders

It’s been a chilly winter for Atlanta (though no snow) and I’ve been hunkering down watching movies. In recent years, there has been an increase in movies about topics that I care about, including caregiving and dementia. Films about growing older that aren’t necessarily tied to illness and death are also being made. Whether you end up giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down to these movies, the mere fact they are being told and finding an audience is a positive sign. There continues to be issues with how older people, especially women, are portrayed in movies and there remains a need to explore growing old from the lens of people of color and other marginalized groups. Below is a list of movies I watched recently that deal with caregiving issues that I found intriguing.

Supernova: Starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth, this emotionally riveting drama centers around a same-sex couple grappling with dementia and end-of-life issues. I appreciated the focus on male caregiving, as it is often overlooked in our society but more men are becoming caregivers and their stories deserved to be told. The vulnerability that the actors showed in their roles was laudable.

Nomadland: Frances McDormand gives an award-worthy performance as an older woman named Fern who converts a van into a home and hits the road after her husband dies and the town she had lived and worked in suffers and economic collapse. The film offers an honest, unvarnished look at the life of modern nomads, who live out of vans or RVs. Many of these nomads are older, but continue to work at odd jobs to afford their life on wheels. While the road offers a good deal of freedom, health challenges, financial issues and loneliness are common issues. This is not a road trip adventure movie; it is about an older woman looking to learn who she is after her former life vanishes. Money is tight, the nights are cold and you take jobs wherever you can find them. The road can be unforgiving, but the friendships Fern forms along the way are authentic and offer important lessons.

Some Kind of Heaven: This documentary by Lance Oppenheim is a moving and intimate look at the less festive aspects of life in The Villages, the well-known retirement community in Florida. Those who have ample retirement funds and who are extroverts will likely thrive in the party-like atmosphere, but for those who find themselves alone, grappling with health issues or lacking money, The Villages is not such a fairy tale life. Oppenheim handled this subject matter with an impressive amount of compassion and insight for someone in their mid-twenties making their feature-length documentary debut.

I Care a Lot: This black comedy-thriller is polarizing audiences. Rosamund Pike plays a villain you love to hate but no one comes off as a hero in this film. Pike runs a company who provides guardianships to the elderly who are supposedly no longer able to care for themselves. The only problem is that her clients are all wealthy and not all are in need of guardians. The company is a scam to strip these people of their money while portraying itself as elder advocates in the eyes of the law. While the violent antics depicted the movie are over the top, there are documented cases of court-appointed guardians who do not serve their client’s best interest and who shut out family members who question such moves. Once courts become involved, it can be difficult for families to regain control of their loved one’s assets and care plan.