In 2013, Korean director Jin Moyoung made My Love, Don’t Cross That River, which followed a couple during their final year of their 76-year marriage. Eight years later, the concept has been expanded into the docuseries My Love: Six Stories Of True Love, following six couples in six countries, all of whom have been together for decades. What are the keys to success for such long-lasting couples? And can we learn anything from them?
Opening Shot: Winter shots of Williston, Vermont. Then we see the entrance to the Isham Family Farm.
The Gist: In the six-part docuseries My Love: Six Stories Of True Love, filmmakers spend a year following around long-lasting couples in six different countries, not as much to see what makes couples last, but just to see them existing together through the ups and downs that particular year brings. Each episode of the series, executive produced by Jin Moyoung and directed by a different director, concentrates on a single couple, with episodes taking place in Spain, Japan, Korea, Brazil and India.
The first episode, though, is in the U.S., following Ginger and David Isham, who just passed their 59th wedding anniversary and was set to celebrate their 60th the following October. Both have lived in the area their entire lives; David has spent all of his 85 years on the farm, which has been in his family for generations. We start in winter, where the Ishams and some of their six children are in the sugar shack making maple syrup. Their farm is the only one left in their area, and much of their business nowadays is built on hosting events and agritourism, which means that they have different activities for people to do in different seasons.
The Ishams are still a loving couple, holding hands and snuggling in bed. Both are also in relatively good shape, physically and mentally. They do have a very practical, stoic, New England-style approach to end-of-life issues though; as we see when they find out from a crematorium director that they can buy a vessel to carry their ashes at either a HomeGoods or the Christmas Tree Shops. The losses among their family and friends, as well as the state of Ginger’s brother-in-law, drive that point home to them every day, which is why they’re not leaving anything for their kids to have to clean up after they die.
Nothing major happens during the year, except for one of their sons getting married to his fiancee a surprise vow renewal during a surprise anniversary party that summer. But they’re enjoying themselves; they go walk around a local island, they hike in the woods behind the farm, they enjoy the company of their children and grandchildren. They visit a senior expo just to dance to the live country band that’s playing. But through it all, they’re making the arrangements they need to make, including where they want their ashes and how their funerals should go.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? On Golden Pond or Cocoon, but real life, and — at least in the latter case — no alien chrysalises giving life.
Our Take: The first episode of My Love was directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Heroin(e)), and it takes on the low-key dignity of the Ishams. Nothing much happens during the year Sheldon follows them, but nothing much has to happen. This is a couple that are still active and still in love, sixty years after they got married. All six of their kids are in the AARP demographic, and they are all still close; in fact, the Isham’s three sons more or less run things now, with help from their still very capable parents.
Might their lives seem boring on the surface? Maybe. But they’re enjoying their time together right now, time they didn’t have for one another in the old days. He was operating the farm, and she was raising the kids. It’s all very traditional-sounding, but also very practical and normal. Ginger readily admits that since David has retired, she’s seen a new side of him. So, despite the fact that David has said there have been disagreements between the two that have been settled without a battle, there are signs that not everything was so ideal.
But the intimacy of where Sheldon goes is what we enjoyed. We see them getting into bed and snuggling. We see them talking about their final arrangements. We see them napping on the living room. Yes, it may make us Gen Xers a little wary of what life will be like for us in the next 20-30 years, but there’s an elegance and silence in the Ishams’ lives that makes us a little jealous.
The other episodes, all directed by local filmmakers, might contain more dramatic events, but the hope is that they’ll all take the same subtle approach, giving glimpses of these long-term couples’ day-to-day lives that should give couples with less mileage some hope about their golden years.
Sex and Skin: David has his shirt off while Ginger shaves his head.
Parting Shot: The next winter, as they get into bed and keep each other warm, we see photos of the Ishams when they met and got married, and pictures of their family over the credits.
Sleeper Star: We want to visit Isham Family Farm. It looks like such a bucolic place with amazing scenery.
Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a shot of the Ishams watching Wheel Of Fortune the night of their anniversary getaway. Does everyone over 65 watch Wheel Of Fortune?
Our Call: STREAM IT. While My Love: Six Stories Of True Love is definitely one of the lowest-key shows Netflix has ever streamed, there’s something to be said for this series’ intimacy and simplicity.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
Stream My Love: Six Stories Of True Love On Netflix
"Love" - Google News
April 14, 2021 at 05:30AM
https://ift.tt/2QpcPHT
Stream It Or Skip It: 'My Love: Six Stories Of True Love' On Netflix, About A Year In The Life Of Long-Lasting Couples All Over The World - Decider
"Love" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35xnZOr
https://ift.tt/2z10xgv
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Stream It Or Skip It: 'My Love: Six Stories Of True Love' On Netflix, About A Year In The Life Of Long-Lasting Couples All Over The World - Decider"
Post a Comment