Me Before You

This is a delightful movie about a tough topic.  For a precis, see Wikipedia.  "26-year-old Louisa Clark is a happy, outgoing woman who lives with and supports her working-class family. After losing her job at a local cafe, she is hired as the caregiver of Will Traynor, a former successful banker and once active young man who became paralyzed after being involved in a motorcycle accident two years prior. Louisa has no experience but Will's mother believes her cheery personality will help lift his spirits. Will only spends time with Nathan, his nurse, who assists with his care, exercise and movement and knows that he will never regain use of his body due to the damage to his spinal cord."

I saw it on Amazon Prime.  I have not read the book, but it may be even more important. 

 

The Savages (2007)

Carrying the scars of an abusive childhood, Savage siblings Wendy (Laura Linney, in an Oscar-nominated role) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) -- a long-aspiring playwright and a drama professor, respectively -- now face the challenge of caring for their ailing father (Philip Bosco). Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, this insightful indie drama explores the depth of one family's emotional disconnect. 2007 113 minutes

NY Times Review.

This is a brilliant film. Sometimes, a tough film to watch; but definitely worth it.

Goodbye Solo (2009)

From NetFlix: When Senegalese taxi driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane) picks up elderly William (Red West) in Winston-Salem, N.C., the older man hires him for another trip in two weeks. But as they continue to talk, Solo realizes that William plans to kill himself at that time. Befriending his depressed passenger, Solo tries to convince him to change his mind, and an unlikely friendship develops between the two men in this moving indie drama. 2009 91 minutes Trailer.

Director Ramin Bahrani is an Iranian-American cinematographer who grew up in North Carolina.

I saw Goodbye Solo on July 5, 2009. Drove to Albany (45 miles away) and do not regret the trip. It is a powerfully moving story that is hauntingly realistic, gritty and beautifully acted. This is not a Hollywood movie trying to be a blockbuster -- it will appeal to a different audience. Bahrani, an Iranian-American, may have been born and educated in the U.S., but his roots are in a different cinema. This film, in my opinion, is a masterpiece.

One True Thing (1998)

From NetFlix: In this adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel, when tough New Yorker Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger) discovers that her mother (Meryl Streep) has cancer, she quits her job, breaks up with her boyfriend and moves back in with her parents to help out. Wanting nothing more than to ease her mother's suffering, Kate inadvertently uncovers several family secrets, including one about her philandering professor father (William Hurt). Carl Franklin directs. 1998, 128 minutes

This was a memorable film, based on an equally compelling book.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

From Netflix: "David Fincher directs this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale set in the early 20th century that follows Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), a man who was born in his 80s and continually grows younger. The story throws linear conventions upside down to explore love, loss and memories from the perspective of a character living under incredibly unique -- and unexpectedly difficult -- circumstances. Cate Blanchett co-stars in this Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture (Drama)." 2008, 166 minutes

The movie adaptation is long, picaresque but sensitively produced. It is nuanced and probably will yield even more in a second or third viewing.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the following about "The Curious Case": This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's "Note-books."
The story was published in "Collier's" last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati:
"Sir--
I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic I have seen many peices (sic) of cheese in my life but of all the peices of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest peice. I hate to waste a piece of stationary on you but I will. "