Familiar Touch

Writer-director Sarah Friedland has accomplished an extraordinary character portrait of an older woman entering a new chapter in her life, experiencing "a coming of age" we haven't seen before on the big screen. Memory loss and dementia is often described and presented as tragedy but what "Familiar Touch" shows us is that appreciation for beauty, sensual joy, creative discovery, and abundant humor persist. Lead actress Kathleen Chalfant is luminous in the role, capable of conveying the quicksilver changes of her character's circumstances with enormous grace and subtlety. I look forward to seeing the film again; this is a story that asks (and deserves) our careful attention and open hearts.