As a recently retired educator, I know that if a literary or cinematic endeavor inherently propels the reader/viewer to some level of emotion it is truly art in its purist form. In 90 minutes, I felt a gamut of emotions. Your film contained all the elements of our human existence: humor, joy, death, pathos, fear, sympathy, dignity, empathy, respect, self-worth, and kindness. The elderly ARE “our greatest generation” and you captured that spirit in your film. The film was also a testimony to your, Jonah’s, and William’s compassion and patience. Bravo and much success with “Bobby V”.

Interesting, but not surprising.

Kudos to you for your film, and for shining a spotlight on a truly fascinating group of people! It’s long overdue, and I hope that this kind of coverage will increase as more people realize how special this population is.

There are some pretty substantial problems with the assisted living industry, as you may have noticed in your experiment. It’s very expensive; many folks who would benefit from assisted living can’t afford to access it, and government programs like Medicare won’t pay for it. Medicaid will pay, but most facilities limit their participation in Medicaid because it isn’t lucrative. It can also be a pretty heartless industry; when residents’ finances dwindle, many facilities will evict them. What happens then is that some will end up putting an undue burden on family members who are ill-prepared to care for them, and many will end up in nursing homes. It’s especially unfortunate that folks who need just a bit of daily assistance wind up in highly restrictive, highly medical settings like nursing homes.

I think your documentary is an important first step for those people who really want to make sure that our oldest citizens have options that don’t come with such a high price tag.

(Full disclosure: I'm an administrator of a nonprofit assisted living facility. More than half of our population is on the Medicaid program.)

I agree I watched your movie yesterday and its all I can think about. I grew up with a mother that devoted her life to the elderly, I use to perform gymnatics and just talk to seniors, so the movie really hit me hard. I wish the candidates would address assited living and perhaps combine college tuition breaks to students that give so many hours a month to simply talking to the elderly. The seniors need stimulation and the youth could really have a impact on their mental health and day to day desires. Great Movie!!!!
Sincerely Natalie

I agree I watched your movie yesterday and its all I can think about. I grew up with a mother that devoted her life to the elderly, I use to perform gymnatics and just talk to seniors, so the movie really hit me hard. I wish the candidates would address assited living and perhaps combine college tuition breaks to students that give so many hours a month to simply talking to the elderly. The seniors need stimulation and the youth could really have a impact on their mental health and day to day desires. Great Movie!!!!
Sincerely Natalie