Familiar Touch: Sunday, August 10

Admission $5
Showings @ 2pm and 5pm
The 2pm show will be closed-captioned, if available
Discussion following the 2pm show

Drama, 1 hour 31 min.
Directed by Sarah Friedlan

Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), a retired cook, prepares breakfast – but small and puzzling errors now punctuate her comfortable routine. When her son (H. Jon Benjamin) arrives to dine with her, she mistakes him for a suitor. Their “date” takes them to an assisted living facility, which Ruth does not remember that she had previously selected for herself. Among her fellow memory care residents, Ruth feels lost and adrift. As she slowly begins to accept the support of care workers Vanessa (Carolyn Michelle) and Brian (Andy McQueen), she finds new ways to ground herself even as her mind embarks on a journey all its own.

“Friedland’s film, as sharp as it is soft, conveys both the terror of losing the life you recognize, and the intermittent, fragmented joy of finding it again.” — Variety

“What Friedland keenly understands is the power of what’s unsaid, how memories can tie themselves to sound, smell, and touch too, and how sometimes those are the last to go.” — RogerEbert.com

“There is great emotional heft to a relatively simple film, and a dignity and empathy afforded to dementia patients that feels astonishingly rare on-screen, where sensationalism tends to bring the house down.” — Little White Lies