Still Mine (2013)

Dreadfully Boring

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Watch this and find out! The lead actors playing the elderly couple are extraordinary. Not only about what marriage used to mean, commitment and deep intimacy and complimentary gender roles, And how well so many men and women used to work together on their own for survival. But also a profound and clear picture of what we are losing in society, independence, personal responsibility, self growth, creativity and the satisfaction of knowing yourself and doing things on your own. And how it is nearly impossible or even illegal to live that way today. A journey back when D.I.Y a necessity not a luxury. And all of it without some need to believe some hocus pocus Love commitment and personal self security based on your ability to actually do things for yourself. Almost lost nowadays.

Still Mine (2012): Dir: Michael McGowan / Cast: James Cromwell, Genevieve Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart, Jonathan Potts: Independent Canadian drama about those things we hold dear. James Cromwell plays a farmer in his eighties whose wife has health issues so he sets out to build a new house in order to aid her. Problems piles up when he must pay money to build on his own property then plans must be drawn up, etc. This becomes predictable and repetitious but it is sure to tug the heart strings. This is a struggling relationship that contains much more heart than many of the young couples who just hook up and have sex. Cromwell delivers a strong performance as someone fighting the system, or in this case, government bureaucrats who are attempting to prevent him from moving forward in this project. Cromwell steals the moment just from speaking but we also feel his aches and desperation when constant opposition presents itself. Genevieve Bujold is equally good as his wife who breaks her hip in a stair fall. She suffers from memory loss, which presents a whole new issue. The supporting players are mainly the grown children who show up and urge Cromwell to move Bujold into a nursing home but he prefers to build the new house and ignore their gripes. Jonathan Potts also plays a less than stellar villain in his quest to relieve them of their home, as well as the new one. This is not blockbuster status but it is a touching film about true love that transcends through a lifetime of heartache and trials while realizing that nothing can take it away. Score: 8 / 10

Director/writer Michael McGowan has done a brilliant job here, not that the seasoned actors James Cromwell and Geneviève Bujold didn't make it possible; they will leave you in awe by their acting.The story is based on true events and people, which makes it all that more compelling, but how simplicity and basic reality often needs no added flavouring and no dramatization as it alone can touch you at the core, is what McGowan made his script to be and let the actors do their thing. That is what and why I call it brilliant. Craig and Irene Morrison played by Cromwell and Bujold are as endearing as any couple of any movie you've ever seen, more so if it's possible. If you felt or believed seniors did not have a sex life, think again; but it makes for romance as it should be and love as it can and ought to, caring devotion being the driving force of their relation.The key characters are sympathetic and embody all the great qualities one would want from people, real people. Even the children of Craig and Irene who at first may not seem so sympathetic, of course turn out to be just as caring and loving as their parents. The only unsympathetic character, if you discount the ambiguous relation Craig has with neighbour Chester, a friend and a very good one, also something you discover with time, is that of city bureaucrat Rick Daigle, played by Jonathan Potts. He's not evil by any means but just the typical face of bureaucracy as we expect it, too impersonal to be sympathetic and of course the foe a story needs. Potts does his portrayal as well as it needed to be, without turning the movie into what it's not; again what I also attribute to good writing. The IMDb full storyline, by Huggo, has all you need to know about the movie's plot (click the Plot Summary link, below the Storyline paragraph) and I suggest you read it. I'll just add one slight spoiler by saying it ends on a very positive note, one for which you'll breathe a sigh of relief. It's not the first movie to deal with the subject of Dementia, not the overwhelming 'motif' of the movie, but it was in my humble opinion a movie that showed the kindest and most heartwarming way actors have treated how their characters live with it. Critics and moviegoers alike have given the movie good to high ratings and praise, justifiably so, to Bujold and Cromwell for their work. I could not agree more strongly. The camera work is done so well it seemingly draws you to the subtle craft of Cromwell. Now that I have mentioned it, you'll have a chance to notice it when you go see or rent the movie, and I recommend you do. You will not regret watching this movie, especially if you are doing so with anyone you care about. Try to hold back your tears if you can, but I expect anyone with an ounce of feelings will find that a challenge.

First off, I am saddened that I did not know about this film earlier. Second, I am saddened that it took a real-life experience to create this idea, but I feel this is not a creative stretch to write this story.James's performance is very painful, knowing the real-life experience of someone who has lost their soul-mate. I commend him on understanding that tie. I personally feel this must have been a difficult role to portray, and he executed that role brilliantly.Geneviève has an equally difficult role in the film. I do feel there where some characteristics missing, such as a more defined moment of loosing track of the conversation, as it would manifest itself in a more confused state. I think these moments where glazed over a bit, but maybe that was for cinematic reasons, but I think there could have been more climax, to each of the specific events, and I would have been more aware of the shards of turmoil that was building in the household.All-in-all, this is NOT a light-hearted movie. But, this is a movie that creates a great summary of aging family issues that we are all susceptible to facing.I give this a TWO THUMBS UP!!!