2019, US/China, 100 min.

Billi (Awkafina) is an independent, Chinese-American woman who receives two pieces of shocking news. First, her beloved grandmother in China, Nai Nai (Shuzen Zhao), has a terminal cancer diagnosis—and that is hidden from her by her sister. Then, instead of dealing with the grim news directly, her family is heading back to say goodbye via a hastily arranged wedding for her grandson. The arrangement enrages Billi, but she plays along and discovers that there’s no one definition of love. For a movie focused on an elaborate ruse, director-writer Lulu Wang (working from an event in her own life) eschews the broad and obvious. Her characters are regular people, struggling with their life choices, whether it’s Billi realizing that her grandmother is the last remnant of her childhood in China or a dinner conversation on American education that turns into a thinly veiled debate on opportunity abroad versus domestic loyalty. But this winning, finely crafted movie runs through Zhao’s sly, winning performance, which reveals that tradition, coupled with flexibility and self-awareness, is a balm for life’s onslaught.

2009, USA, 99 min.

Robert De Niro plays Frank Goode, a retiree with an aching amount of free time now that his wife has died and his four, grown-up kids are out of the house. After his attempt to get the kids together fails, Frank embarks on a cross-country road trip, visiting each child unannounced. The ones he sees (Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore) play their parts, steering Frank away from anything remotely unpleasant, including their perceived professional and personal shortcomings. But Frank’s shaky health and a looming tragedy make such a ruse impossible to maintain. This remake of the 1990 Italian film Stanno Tutti Bene is a well-acted, sweet exploration of how no family benefits from hiding the truth. Understanding and acceptance lead to deeper fulfillment—at any age. 

2020, USA, 118 min.

In hardscrabble, quick-to-anger, post-Civil War America, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) travels to isolated outposts to read from newspapers for audiences hungry for information. On his latest business trip, the middle-aged, peripatetic Kidd finds a 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel) abandoned in the woods. Kidd learns Johanna was to be delivered to her German immigrant relatives after being kidnapped by a Kyowa tribe, whom she now considers her true family. The grizzled Civil War veteran unwillingly becomes the girl’s temporary caretaker, navigating the dangerous Texas terrain to bring young Johanna to an unfamiliar home while figuring out how to break through her taciturn, nearly uncommunicative personality. Paul Greengrass’ Western could be construed as a thinly veiled but potent parable of today’s politically fractured climate, but it succeeds as a tender, reflective tale of two lost souls finding emotional sustenance in the wreckage of their lives. Greengrass eases his trademark jumpy, taut, directorial style to craft a stirring reminder that it’s never too late to make ourselves whole. Hanks and Zengel are terrific. Based on Paulette Jiles’ novel. 

1995, USA, 108 min. 

Max Apple’s acclaimed memoir of life with his grandfather, who lived to 107, gets successfully overhauled in this heartwarming, emotionally satisfying film adaptation that gives Peter Falk a memorable role. The beloved television actor plays Rocky, a cantankerous baker, who at age 75 becomes the caretaker of his young, orphaned grandson. The boy, Michael, grows up. He becomes a doctor, marries, has children. Then tragedy strikes. At each high and low, the old man provides ballast for Michael (played as an adult by D.B. Sweeney). Though Rocky is portrayed as a font of wisdom, what distinguishes the movie is director Peter Yates’ refusal to turn the character into a mascot or a punch line. Rocky’s refusal to compromise, coupled with his relentless love for his family, will delight and educate viewers of all ages.

2006, USA, 102 min.

When cancer-ridden Anita Bergman (Sally Field) submits to hospice care, her four adult children (Ben Chaplin, Tom Cavanagh, Julianne Nicholson and Glenn Howerton) reunite in suburban North Carolina to help temporarily and to say goodbye permanently. As the days yawn toward grim inevitability, they all—including Anita, who is not ready to go—peel off their cultivated facades and reassess their priorities. This is especially true for Keith (Chaplin), who keeps tamping down his emotions, and Barry (Cavanagh), whose career rules his life. Two Weeks poignantly reminds us to truly know our family (especially our parents and grandparents) before time passes into lifelong regret. Thankfully, director-writer Steve Stockman coats the proceedings with ample humor to make his movie uplifting for multiple generations. 

2008, USA, 120 min.

Successful writer Michael (Ryan Reynolds) returns home, with great reluctance, for his mother’s college graduation. Her warmth and compassion were bright spots in Michael’s otherwise tumultuous childhood, which has now become thinly disguised material for his work. When an accident turns this joyous occasion into a tragedy, the young man must confront his past, namely his contentious relationship with his despotic father (Willem Dafoe), an academic whose literary success pales in comparison to his son’s. The longer Michael stays, the more he grasps the importance of releasing his anger instead of using it to try to settle an impossible debt. The ability to improve the now—a lesson all ages can appreciate—runs through this empathetic ensemble drama that includes Julia Roberts, Emily Watson and Carrie-Anne Moss.