Seen at...
Tomorrow Never Knows
- Director: Adam Sekuler
- Producer: Darci Meyers
CGiii Comment
Few films are as difficult to watch than this...quite literally, you watch someone die.
Shar Jones has early onset Alzheimer's Disease...the decision for a concious death is taken. For those of you who don't know what conscious dying is...it's a more spiritual way of putting-your-house-in-order. Tying up loose-ends, saying goodbyes, building broken bridges and saying 'I love you' to those you love...it's all about [everyone involved] being emotionally ready for the death to happen in peace with grace...with dignity.
The other decision taken is when. Shar Jones wants that control...thereby preserving who she is and the memory of her...rather than her person, her memory, herself...being lost forever in the Alzheimer's fog. To be remembered for who you were and not for who you became...a monumental decision that can never be taken lightly.
For the filmmaker, the gravity of the situation demanded a different kind of approach. Less intrusion...infinite respect. Adam Sekuler succeeds...by simply observing the often mundane daily routine of this couple's last days together. At times, it's agonising to watch...sometimes, it's heart-warming...always respectful. Death happens to us all...few of us get to die on our own terms.
Shar Jones never got to see the completed film...she knew she never would. She leaves behind an essence of her, who she was.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A sensitive documentary looking at the life and death of Shar Jones, a transgender person living with early onset Alzheimer's Disease, and the difficult choice she and her wife Cynthia Vitale faced as the couple struggled to figure out how to proceed amidst her chaotic decline. Tomorrow Never Knows highlights the couple's journey as they set a course to Shar's final days. This tragic love story offers profound implications for increasing awareness about choice in living and in dying.