Broken Memories tells a story about a son struggling with his father’s dementia. He hires a young woman to help with his father and her arrival brings many changes to the situation. The film is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, as many dementia stories are.
Broken Memories stars Rance Howard as Jasper, the ailing father. It was his last role before his death. He gave a beautiful performance.
Jasper and his son Levi (Ivan Sergei) lived on the family farm. Levi was impatient with his dad, who wandered off frequently. Levi tried to correct his father when he was confused about who people were or what was going on around him. Levi was at his wit’s end.
Levi’s sister helped find a person to come live at the farm house to help with Jasper. Maggie (Kelly Greyson) had problems she was escaping and which brought trouble to the farm. But at first those problems weren’t known.
Jasper was certain the beautiful young Maggie was his dead wife. Maggie went along with the sham, and explained to Levi why it was the kind thing to do.
Attention and care from Maggie was good for Jasper. Levi was attracted to Maggie, but she had problems hanging over her head.
The majority of the film showed the developing relationship between the three of them. A crisis changed the dynamic and the ending was not what we were expecting. It wasn’t a bad ending. In fact, the movie cast a golden glow over the ending that seemed unrealistic in terms of dementia to me.
I found this film on Tubi, which is free (with ads). It’s also streaming on the Roku channel and Pluto TV. It’s a treat to explore these smaller streamers like Tubi and find hidden gems that were never big hits but are enjoyable films.