Last Resort
2025 · 9m · USA
Directed by Bren Cukier
Genres: documentary, drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
One week after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a father and his three daughters go on a family vacation to the same resort they visited 25 years ago. The film juxtaposes home-video footage recorded 25 years apart, contrasting scenes full of levity with scenes full of loss.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Director's own home-video footage 25 years apart against an Alzheimer's diagnosis — emotionally legible, technically simple, and the OG description on the Vimeo page is for a completely different film, which suggests an under-promoted personal project. Earnest but uninvented.
Intercutting 25-year-apart home videos of the same resort post-Alzheimer's diagnosis is the structural gesture Sarah Polley deployed in Stories We Tell, and Kirsten Johnson in Dick Johnson Is Dead — autobiographical documentary's most punishing tool. I would want to confirm this matches the actual film rather than the Vimeo page's unrelated synopsis, but the premise alone earns interest.
Director intercutting his own family home video from 25 years apart against a present-day Alzheimer's diagnosis is conceptually airtight — the format is the argument. Page summary loaded a different film (a Gravitas Ventures feature) so I can't verify, but the metadata's premise is strong on its own.
Reviews
What could have been a purely downbeat watch instead feels like both a creative release during a confusing time and a heartfelt reflection on life, love, and family.
A tender and affecting portrait that contrasts footage full of levity with footage full of loss, both rooted in love.
Festivals
- Tribeca Film Festival 2025