Laughter...the best medicine!
I was not sure how this was going to make me feel, considering I watched my own grandmother die with Alzheimers. As I started to watch the story unfold, mentally preparing to see our experience on film, I was caught off guard by the moments that made me smile and bust out laughing. The laughter laced with the reality was something that I did not expect. My regret now is not having seen this film before my own grandmothers struggle. I think this would have helped us on so many levels in coping and dealing with this dreaded disease. I hope anyone dealing with a loved one with Alzheimers sees this film. I'm off to read the book now! Thanks to Lisa and her family for bringing this highly personal moment for all of us to experience.
You will laugh and you will cry.
I had the pleasure of viewing this film at the Boulder Life and Death Matters film festival last summer. It is really a beautiful love letter from Lisa Cerasoli to her Gram - and a realistic look at caring for someone with this horrid disease. When life gives you lemons, make lemonades. That's what Lisa did with this film. By capturing Nora Jo's last days with such warmth and humor, it helps soothe the pain of the reality of caring for loved one with Alzheimer's. You have to laugh, or you'll just cry. I have watched this film over and over and over, and recommend it (and the book "Nora Jo Fades Away") to anyone currently caring for someone with Alzheimer's, or who has cared for a loved one with this disease in the past. You'll fall in love with Gram, Lisa and her daughter Jazz the first time you see it.
Well done, Lisa, and thank you for sharing your Gram with us. Wish I would have known her.
Hilarious, Heartbreaking and Utterly Genuine
I've watched my fair share of documentaries, and I usually end up liking them and learning something...and then I'm happy when they're over. 14 Days w/Alzheimer's leaves you wanting more. It somehow relays all the trials and tribulations that occur with this disease effectively, but does it in such a way that it feels like pure entertainment. I didn't know you could fall so hard so fast for an older woman, the lead, Nora Jo, but this woman endeared herself to me in the first minutes of the show - the whole family did. And I forgot it was low budget, I forgot I was "supposed" to be getting an education. The style in which Cerasoli chose to film, made me feel like a fly on the wall. These folks left nothing to the imagination. I feel like I know them now. I feel like I know so much more about Alzheimer's, and I have less fear of the illness. And I feel lucky to have seen this. What a masterpiece! I loved this movie (almost) as much as Nora Jo loved beer!
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