Our Father

"Our Father", a short film written and directed by Linda Palmer, opens with a steady build-up leading me from curious to overwhelmed with emotion. John played by Michael Gross was nothing less than amazing in his portrayal of a man in the grip of late stage dementia with incredibly realistic behavior bordering on schizophrenic. Michael Worth who portrays Jared was so convincing in his role as somewhat estranged son, that I truly felt his anguish, anger and frustration in his hopeless attempt to be the good son. Eileen Grubba (Kate) and David Topp (Danny) were perfectly cast as wife and son trying their best to support Jared and help care for his rapidly deteriorating absentee father as he tries to understand who his dad is why wasn't he there for him.

A must see short film, with Michael Gross as you have never seen him before. Well written and beautifully directed telling of a true story that will stay with you for days.

"Our Father" takes a bold and honest look at the emotional and psychological devastation left in the wake of a father's crushing dementia. It also touches on other personal and social issues, bringing into sharp focus the effects of a life spent in darkness, carefully guarding secrets from the past.

In one claustrophobic scene, writer and director Linda Palmer-Cardone takes her audience on an insightful and mesmerizing journey that most feature-length films fail to achieve. Like a car crash you just can't look away from, "Our Father" holds you tight from the first moment to the last.

Michael Gross's shattering performance as John, the father, will leave you shaken to the core. Michael Worth's touching performance as Jared brilliantly captures the roller coaster of emotions and feelings a son faces when dealing with a father locked in the grip of advancing dementia.

David Topp and Eileen Grubba (Danny and Kate) also give wrenching and touching performances as a teenage boy, mature and sensitive beyond his years, who is far better equipped to handle the situation with his grandfather than anyone else, and a wife and mother who is struggling to keep herself and her family together through an impossible ordeal.

I just finished watching Our Father and it is an incredibly moving story of compassion and caring for an all too common affliction of dementia in our society today.

Jared (Michael Worth) shows an example of compassion along with his son, Danny (David Topp), that should be the standard for family care providers dealing with such an issue.

John (Michael Gross) brought an amazingly realistic portrayal to his role as the afflicted father, and his bravery to take on such a delicate subject and powerful performance is a must-see!

Linda Palmer's direction and tightly written script explore the depths of emotion and deep-seated family issues. In addition, the flashbacks fill in the void of the long missing detail from John's fractured mind that can explain and help heal his family.

This short film written and directed by Linda Palmer stars Michael Gross as, John, a formerly brutish father beset by Alzheimer's and Michael Worth as, Jared, the conflicted son reluctantly tasked to care for him. The film is a short 22 minutes as Jared struggles with his father who vacillates between infantile helplessness and abusive rage. In the conflict between father and son, secrets of the older man's past emerge and give the son a new understanding of his father's anger. The film is well paced and beautifully filmed using reflective surfaces to indicate the emotional double life of John. Except for a couple of short scenes in a closet and several flashbacks, the bulk of the film takes place in the bathroom as Jared struggles to coax his father into performing daily necessities. Frustration and anger is palpable in the film, but Palmer deftly relieves the strain with well-placed flashbacks and the patient ministrations of Danny, John's gentle grandson played by David Topp. Michael Gross's and Michael Worth's performances are riveting.

Our Father is a touching, honest film about what happens when a troubled man, a father, keeps secrets bottled up all his life; if not for his dementia, they would have stayed buried forever. Lucky—or unlucky—for his son, they didn't.

The film has reenactment, pain, understanding, and perhaps a little closure. This man's son will never see him the same way again and, from a single moment of clarity, can perhaps begin to forgive his mistakes. Beautifully shot and acted, this 20-minute film (shot almost entirely in a bathroom) has more emotion in it than some features have from beginning to end.

I'm so proud of Our Father.