(America, from New York to Los Angels; 1973ish)
Art Carney won a much deserved Oscar for his portal of a beautiful man, on a beautiful journey cross country with his cat. It is a reflection on growing old, on love, on life, on family and on friends. Carney’s portal of Harry is rich in a degree seldom seen, he becomes this throughly fascinating yet simple old man, a man of great understanding who just brings out the innermost self of whoever he’s with. After his apartment is torn down by the city and he is forced to leave the neighborhood where he had lived since childhood, Harry feels a little lost and tries to find a place for himself again at the age of 72. He travels cross country to visit his three children and along the way encounters a variety of characters, from a teenaged runaway, to an Indian medicine man, to his first love, now suffering from Alzheimer’s in an Indiana nursing home. These incidents could seem episodic if they didn’t all add up to something, something about the character of this profoundly decent and empathetic person who is Harry. A moving portrait that is tragically forgotten by many film fans.
See also: The Straight Story
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2 comments:
Did not see this one, but I did see Straight Story, starring that fellow who was asst manager in the Natural and Ann's uncle in Ann of Green Gables. Didn't he encounter a teenaged runaway, too, like Harry?
(two films highly recommended for your future reviews:
Other People's Lives
Vitus
Yes he does meet a runaway, and your refering to the late actor (and former stuntman) Richard Farnsworth.
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