That old devil dementia, the mind and memory trickster, is playing merry hell with Ruth Goldman, widowed retired cook and mother of her only child, her son, Steve.
She’s getting ready for a date, getting finicky about what to wear, taking her time, changing her mind on choices, focused on preparing a light lunch and not forgetting that she has a date.
Ruth is collected by a man, to her mind her date, in reality her son. He has packed a suitcase. They arrive at what she thinks is a hotel but is really a facility for assisted living. Apparently, she had approved of this move previously but has no recollection of it.
Perception is the prankster and Ruth confronts her confusion with a steadfastness reminiscent of her past. Muscle memory is marshalled from her working life as a cook in a diner as she makes some semblance of sense of her current situation finding agency preparing meals in the facility’s kitchen.
Inspired by director Sarah Friedland’s personal experience as a carer in an assisted living community, FAMILIAR TOUCH will definitely touch those familiar with the mood swings, memory deterioration and character change dementia endows.
Discarding tried and tired tropes, FAMILIAR TOUCH brings a different dimension to the dramatic effects of dementia both for the sufferer, their family and their carers.
Kathleen Chalfant is a quiet revelation as Ruth, effective but with no affectation, her character’s confusions coaxed to the surface by subtle and supple nuance in both speech and body language.
Harry Jon Benjamin as her son, Steve, and Carolyn Michelle as Vanessa, her no -nonsense but compassionate care-giver give exceptional supporting performances.
FAMILIAR TOUCH is a perfectly formed gem, human, humane and not without humour. No heroics, no histrionics, no hysterics, the film is served straight, no chaser. Ironically for a picture about memory loss, FAMILIAR TOUCH lodges in the mind with a resonance that’s hard to forget.
