In fact, "illness" has never been a good film subject, and the proportions of over and over again are controlled by the director, and if you don't pay attention to it, it becomes a soap opera of the mother-in-law, the sensational "Eraser in My Mind" and "Love Notebook"; the comedy "My Amnesiac Girlfriend"; the indulgent "Remember I Love You" These are all movies about Alzheimer's disease, and they are all love movies, some sell the tears of the audience, some betray the appearance of patients, and cheaply win the tears and smiles of the audience.
2001's "The Long Road Will End" brings the British writer Alice Merckdo's experience of Alzheimer's disease and her husband's childhood memories to the screen with a dense emotion, and youth and years overlap with the sigh of life, and the temperate emotion and superb performance make "The Long Road Will End" a timeless work.
Sarah Polly, who acted and directed well, is different from the delicacy of Richard Al, poetically interpreting another Alzheimer's film that is different from "The Long Road Is Over", and the results of her long debut "Willow Dark Flowers" directed by her are amazing and unforgettable!
Adapted from Canadian author Alice Monroe's short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," "Willow Came Over the Mountain," a story about how a couple who have been married for 44 years face the onslaught of Alzheimer's disease.
When Alzheimer's illness gets worse, his wife Fiona (Julie Christie) decides to live in a nursing home, but her husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) does not want his wife to live in a lifeless world, and is afraid that her wife will eventually forget herself, but Fiona says, "Please let me leave gracefully!"
Just a month after being admitted to a nursing home, Alzheimer's disease erodes not only Fiona's memories, but even her soul and forty-four years of emotions, Fiona has forgotten her husband and becomes another man Oberly's lover, although Grant says "I will not leave my wife", but Fiona gradually walks out of her own life...
In fact, "Willow Dark Flowers" definitely qualifies as a super sensational film, but Sarah Polly successfully transforms this subject into a lyrical poem with poetic brushstrokes.
The actress, who worked with Canadian film master Artoam Igoryan (who also served as the film's executive producer) on Hotel and Sweet Afterlife, learned a little bit of Attom Igorn's characteristic poetic, delicate and human depiction.
Sarah Polly cuts into the protagonist's love world from Grant's point of view, and puts Grant's insistence on love and tolerance and nostalgia for his wife, through the interlacing of reality and memory, and the intimacy, disputes, and attachments about marriage are piled up into throbbing emotions.
Sarah Polly also retains the moving dialogue in the original novel, and the literary and sensual dialogues enrich the soul of the film, coupled with the occasional memory slice and the lost image of Fiona, all make the love that has been more than forty years more magical.
Sarah Polly, who came from an actor, seems to be well versed in the energy of the actors themselves, and the senior actors who direct them have not seen timidity, especially the use of the actors' limbs and eyes to successfully condense the power of love, coupled with oscar queen Julie Christie and Canadian veteran actor Gordon Pinsont with their lives-burning color performances, all of which are rich in the texture contained in the script.
With a fresh, sincere narrative approach, "Willow Dark Flowers" allows the technical department to retreat into the background as much as possible, and does not abuse the sensational index created by the soundtrack, editing and photography, especially those scenes that may be tear-inducing, but makes the film more real, although the film remains in the moment of abrupt end, it still leaves the audience with endless charm.
Whether it is a disease theme or a love movie, "Willow Dark Flowers" is indeed sincere and moving, becoming another moving sketch after "The Long Road Will End".
Many new directors like to put the film techniques and techniques they have learned in their debut films, fearing that their directing skills will not be seen, and ignoring the storytelling itself.
But "Willow Dark Flowers" tells us that it is so important to tell a good story, and Sarah Polly's wonderful demonstration of the "basic skills" of filmmaking has also successfully promoted herself from an actress to a female director!