Great Photo, Lovely Life

Was glued to the TV watching this documentary. It's the first time I have watched a show about family members abusing other family members. It's a discussion that usually doesn't happen in families. These ladies faced it in their family head on. Because of the time lapse of the abuse, memories, in some instances, were from so many years ago but very vivid. The bravery of the ladies to dig deep is admirable. The Grandfather, in my opinion, didn't grasp the severity of what his actions did to the people he abused. His words rang hollow to me. Granted he was close to dying but, his words centered more on how he is going to be greeted upon his death. Recently, I learned my Father tried to abuse his Granddaughters when they were preteens. His actions repulsed me. He has been gone for many years but he was never confronted. Thank you for sharing your experience. I admire you for doing this in a public setting. Hopefully it will start discussion's in families that are currently dealing with this issue.

In spite of this person being an absolute, unremorsful monster, his family showed him the compassion and love he didn't deserve and never showed to his countless victims. I certainly wouldn't have been so kind in this situation.

As someone from a family with the patriarch also doing such things, this family's ability to confront his actions head on makes me sad my family never could speak openly about what had happened. Quite the opposite, this was buried deep down and became a shameful secret only part of the family even knows about today.

My expectation is that everybody who watched this documentary or is reading this review has experience to some degree, either personally, or with a loved one some form of sexual abuse. It is staggering and disgusting how pervasive these behaviors are but if we are ever going to slow its momentum it's by being upfront and honest and teaching our children to speak up.

Powerful and jarring movie.

A lot of reviwes are from people who have been affected by Monsters like the grandfather. I don't walk in their shoes and can't take in the pain they have suffered all their lives, not just the abuse but that it is a loved family member who is the abuser So for me this make me angry, I could not understand why they visited that monster, be in the same room as it. It should have been thrown out with the trash not put into a care home, how much did that cost the family? Did the care home know what he had done?

The mother said as they were going thou the clothes "we need to laugh" because she knows she is guilty. She was abused why would she ever go anywhere near her parents again? I know it's easy to say "it's her parents" it's not that easy to walk away. But she left her daughter alone in the house The grandmother was as bad as IT in my opinion she knew what was going on, but done F ALL and then we have the religion BS, it's like the Mafia kill 10 people then pop to Church The old C@@T was not even sorry, in his sick F up mind. It's all good cause Jesus will forgive me As for forgetting I can't comment on that, but i suppose to be able to live your life can you forget? Some people can put bad things that happen to you away deep in your heart behind a padlock, but it still affects them A lot of people are saying Amanda was wrong to make this film, what I got from it, she is angry with her mother more then the Monster as her mother could have got him arrested and she done zero and made it worse, this doc was not just about the Monster IT but also to hurt the mother.

As for the other victims, you can't force someone to appear on TV and the one with the daughter who was preggers seemed fine being on the program We all want to look up to our parents and be proud of them and make them proud of us.

Sometimes you have to admit who they really are and let the world know.

What was the purpose? He didnt went to jail again, noone got closure, no laws were changed, he wasnt even confronted the right way, the family didnt heal and he even did his thing one last time in his final days! We can excuse everything with creating "awareness" but its just too trivial in my opinion. I feel she used his whole family suffering to create this documentary. There we're too many shots where she was the "movie star". I know it wasnt an easy documentary to create because of the emocional connection, but i think that affected the whole project. Im just happy it ended.

The topic behind this piece is really serious and has to be talked about (or screamed) but in some points it was just the excuse to show drama.

From a technical stand point i really likes the cinematography and the edition, it makes you feel a lot of things and that is what art is supposed to do.

I cant rate this.

As "Great Photo, Lively Life" (2023 release; 112 min.) opens, we are with Amanda and her mom Debbie, who are visiting Amanda's grandpa (Debbie's dad) in Florida, ready to finally confront him over the sexual abuses of many young girls all this years ago. He doesn't deny any of it, and in fact goes one further. We then go back in time to the 1970s in Bradford, PA, where he worked as a chiropractor. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this movie is co-directed by Rachel Beth Anderson ("Unschooled") and Amanda Mustard, making her directing debut. The movie is a hard-hitting, if not shocking, but certainly devastating look back to the speechless acts of sexual abuse over many years by her grandfather, and the long-term consequences for the family and the victims. The grandfather shows no signs of remorse, zero, and explains it all like you would explain buying a loaf of bread at the grocery store, To Amanda's immense credit, she does not shy away from the difficult moments, and plows on to get to the bottom of this, including the responsibilities of the people around her grandfather, including i=his wife and yes, Amanda's mother. Please note that this will make many viewers uncomfortable, as surely I was.

"Great Photo, Lovely Life" premiered at SXSW earlier this year to immediate critical acclaim. It is currently rated 100% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. It started airing on HBO two weeks ago and it is also streaming on Max, where I caught it. If you want to understand the truly devastating effects of a serial pedophile on his victims, his family, and society as a while, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.