Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic.This film has no known audio description.

What a tough film to make. Sarah Friedland certainly has to have an awareness of her subject matter, in order to direct an honest portrayal of something a lot of family member go through.Dramas featuring leads whose memories are on the decline, which take such a realistic approach, really have a limited audience. The over 60 crowd won’t be interested, because it almost is like their waking nightmare. They are too close to it, and I can’t imagine this having too much acceptance with a crowd that could one day be the lead of this. Then you have those who are family members with someone who has dementia or Alzheimer’s, and this then serves as a reminder. Not everyone wants film to mirror their lives, as so many seek for it as an escape.

For me, I did grow up constantly going to see my grandfather in a nursing home, so the film is relatable. That’s how I can appreciate the honest in Friedland’s work, as she uses a careful progression of the story to give us a woman who remembers things, but not everything.

For example, though she isn’t a career chef, she does know how to make some really excellent food, and spends a lot of time in the kitchen. She can’t remember that her son (H. Jon Benjamin) is married, but she has a killer recipe for Borscht. She’s having a hard time adjusting to her new life, as we see her at the beginning of the film, with her son coming to collect her and take her to a memory care facility. There, it is clear she’s not quite as far along as some of the others, and wants to stay busy.

These kinds of movies can be deeply moving. I’ll admit, perhaps because of my history with this stuff, when I saw the Notebook for the first time, and there’s a bit of lucidity there that disappears quickly, it made me cry. Of course, James Garner and gena Rowlands wre exceptional in that. here, Ruth (Kathleen Chalfint) doesn’t have a notebook to bring her back, and even the general lack of loved ones seems to suggest she’s on her own. Still, using what wits she does still have, she proves to be a feisty and classy contribution to the home. She doesn’t understand everything or get it right, but that’s what makes the film pretty great.

That’s about as far as I can go, since there’s no audio description to give context to everything I was missing. I got the idea, I fully appreciate the work, and think it is a bold debut with a wonderful breakthrough performance. It is a little weird hearing Benjamin in a straight dramatic role, as I’m so used to him as a voice over artist in adult animation, but he really does try to do a solid and honest performance.

A beautiful directorial debut about the fragility of memory, and how we can remember the strangest things while forgetting the more imperative. A tough sell for audiences afraid this could be them, Friedland approaches with courtesy and honesty.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.6/10