When Wendy and Jon take their dad into his room in the nursing home for the first time, and the staff guy pulls back the curtain so he can meet his roommate, the guy looked so nice! He's just sitting in bed, reading, and says "Hi!" in such a friendly way. I wish I could have seen more of that character, even for just another short exchange with Lenny.
shareYeah, I love how the nursing home staff would come in and say goodnight to the father and then leave subsequently ignoring the other patient in the room!
I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.
there's a shot where laura linney's character wishes goodnight to the roommate through the privacy curtains with no response. i took this to mean he had just died.
i took it this way, after the film, as a precursor to their father's death as i believed the roommate died, of course the father wouldn't notice and it's not the sister or brother's business. plus phillip seymour hoffman has the big speech about how the homes try to sugarcoat death and that is all that's happening at the nursing homes is death, "a horrorshow" i believed he said.
that's what i read into it but i'm more than happy to be proven wrong.
That is all.
I figured the poor man was asleep, not that it would have been easy with all the noisy nighttime visitors. Maybe he was down the hall playing Bingo.
shareI took it that the roommate was going downhill. Otherwise the curtains would be open to the public as contact with others is encouraged. This was confirmed in the end shot of the room after Lenny has departed, both beds are empty.
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