An Alzheimer’s sufferer desperately tries to put together the pieces of his past.
Memory might unknowingly be our most fragile asset, as it often fades away with age, and at a frightening pace for those struck with Alzheimer. Filmmaker Matthew Thorne decided to reach a state of mind that not many have tried before, capturing a fading memory from a perspective. The result is a beautiful film with flows of imagination with a soft mix between memory and reality.
It is based on the memories I had from when I was younger of my Dad losing his mother to Alzheimer’s. I really wanted to tell a story from my Grandmother’s perspective. It was fascinating and horrifying to imagine what it must have been like to be in her shoes – and something that I hadn’t seen tackled before.
The glazing cinematography captures the viewer and places them in a fading state of mind. Matthew cleverly uses flashbacks and then subtlety blends times together, something I’ve never seen done in this manner.
At the end of the day we just wanted to make a film that created empathy for those suffering with the disease or for those careing for them. It seems like as a society we chose to gloss over the pain that people go through and focus on the postive – and in doing that some people, and their stories, get pushed to the fringe. We just wanted to hopefully open those stories up again.
The film’s composure creates a solid awareness of the disease allowing the viewers to experience the fading memory.