Lovely, Still

Plot

Lonely Robert Malone (Landau) falls in love with Mary (Burstyn), the mother of his neighbor Alex (Banks). With the help of his boss Mike (Scott), Robert decides to spend Christmas with someone for the first time.

In actuality, this is a most unusual film, in its sweet flow of seeming innocence through about 2/3, growing to deep feeling, with foreshadowing throughout growing, of some impending problem, then sudden impact of it turning, wham!, the clarity of reality, and the deep love being even more underlying and solid. One hates to give away endings that change a film, so forewarning, spoiler details follow = The reality involves Alzheimer's or dementia [though unnamed in the film], and it is this disease that has allowed for such an innocence to be real in its presentation, and explains prior actions that Mary took, the daughter and Mike took, with greater clarity of meaning at the point we come to realize it.

This is truly a true love story.

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Omaha, Nebraska. It first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and continued to other film festivals, being nominated for Best First Screenplay for Nicholas Fackler at the Independent Spirit Awards.