I'll Be Here For a While
New York
•
10m
In New York City, a man named Lenny looks after his mother who is experiencing memory loss and hallucinations. “I’ll Be Here For Awhile,” directed by Dylan and Dakota Pailes-Friedman, is an elliptical drama told with quietly evocative visuals about identity loss and the burdens shouldered by loved ones. As his mother, Ruth, deteriorates, Lenny does his best to care for her. A trip to the doctor is a complicated endeavor — first to get her there, and then to find her once she escapes into the city alone. Throughout, Ruth is fixated on an old voicemail from a friend inviting her to come listen to music in the park (she also has a vision of the friend speaking the same voicemail to her in person), a habit that sparks frustration and concern in Lenny that his mother may be getting worse. Pailes-Friedmans’ film is a profound look at mental decline told with restraint and naturalism, punctuated with surreal images to begin and end the film, and featuring another wonderful performance from David Call, who won our 2018 NoBudge Award for Best Performance for “Cole.”
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