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Movie Review: "The Notebook"
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Movie Review: "Calendar Girls"
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Dr. David J. Demko, gerontologist and editor 
"I'm trying to die, but they won't let me," replies an elderly nursing home patient when asked how he's doing. The scene is a metaphor for what's to come in this extraordinary, life-affirming love story.
Film characters, Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Ally (Rachel Adams) are young lovers, inseparable soul mates. Then, tearfully torn away from each others arms, first by controlling parents ... then by World War ... then by alternate love-interests developed during Noah and Ally's agonizing 14-year separation. As fate would have it, the couple find their way back to each other. A chance encounter draws the pair into a tender weekend of discovery that enduring love cannot be diminished by time or distance. Noah and Ally share a long, devoted marriage which now finds Ally a frail nursing home resident. Time has robbed Noah of health, and Alzheimer's has stolen Ally's memory. Despairing the loss of the Ally he once knew, the elder Noah finds a vehicle for communicating with his beloved. A notebook, written by Ally in better times, chronicles the couple's life together ... how they met, loved, and lived a devoted life. Each day, reading outloud at Ally's side, Noah manages to infrequently draw his love out of her darkness. Accounts of their life and love coach a smile onto Ally's face. She remembers, if only briefly ... her precious Noah. A few tender exchanges, then Ally fades back into the dark halls of her mind. Readers of Nicholas Spark's best selling novel will find the film true to the author's writing. If you missed the book, don't mistake the foreboding topic of Alzheimer's as the over-riding theme. On the contrary, the film invites movie-goers to rejoice over the triumph of ever-lasting love. Gosling deserves Best Actor for his spectacular performance. Adapted by Jan Sardi with a screenplay by Jeremy Leven (Don Juan DeMarco). Cast: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Joan Allen. PG-13 rating for adult situations, but an R-rating seems more appropriate due to sexual content. AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com |
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Dr. David J. Demko, gerontologist and editor 
"Calendar Girls" (Touchstone) is pure joy, destined to be a motion picture classic. Hitting all the marks
of movie-goer expectations ... Calendar Girls offers drama, laughter, inspiration, and visually
delicious landscapes. And, superb performances by cast members Helen Mirren, Julie Waters, and John Alderton
are the proverbial "icing on the cake."
Characters Annie and Chris belong to the Women"s Institute (WI), keeper of the flame for homemaker traditions tediously communicated to the bored membership via mundane lectures on the history of broccoli and the origin to household rugs. These are the kind of presentations where the host asks if she can get you anything, and you respond, "Yes, a loaded gun so I can blow my brains out." Annie and Chris manage to endure the exercise (and keep awake) by poking fun at the invited speakers and their tormenting tedious topics. Life's not all fun and games, however. Advancing age can weigh all too heavily upon those whose social value is wrongfully one-dimensional ... based exclusively on youthful beauty. Unabashed, our 50-plus heroines are quick to turn life's adversities into opportunities for redefining maturity, beauty, and the proverbial meaning of life itself ... "it's what you make it." And, in this case, the Calendar Girls "make it" to Hollywood as celebrity guests on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. How? The Girls start out trying to help a financially strapped hospital by posing for a nude calendar as a fund-raising event that ultimately raises their hopes about life. Full of attention-sustaining twists and turns, Calendar Girls offers movie-goers entertainment, inspiration, and a chance to see themselves and life's possibilities in a whole new light. The naked truth about age, beauty, and the meaning of life. Rated PG-13 for adult situations. AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com |