Directed by: Mick Jackson
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Hank Azaria, Caroline Aaron, Wendy Moniz, Bonnie Bartlett, John Carroll Lynch, Kyle Sullivan
"Death ends a life, not a relationship," is one of the many profound statements dying professor Morrie Schwartz (Lemmon) has for his friend and favorite student Mitch Albom (Azaria), who is so wrapped up in his career he barely has time to sleep let alone smell the roses. Based on Albom's autobiographical novel, Tuesdays with Morrie is an unabashed tearjerker that sets out what it wants to accomplish: to make you choke up, tear, and think a little.
Morrie is thankfully not presented as a secular saint or a Yoda-like person who has plenty of wise insights to pass along to we mere mortals. That would've made him a bore. Instead, we see a man who bravely faces his ALS death sentence with humor and grace in front of others, but in the middle of the night, he cries himself to sleep as he processes his own fear and anger at his fate. His wife Charlotte (Bartlett) lies next to him, and if Tuesdays with Morrie has a gaping blind spot, it's how little Morrie's family is seen. Oh, we see Charlotte on occasion, acting as a liaison to tell Mitch (and us) how well or unwell Morrie is feeling today, but how is this affecting her? Aside from these superficial appearances, we can only surmise. Morrie's own children appear in only two scenes, but are otherwise shuffled off so Mitch and Morrie can do their thing when they meet every Tuesday.
Tuesdays with Morrie, however, more than makes up for these deficiencies with some powerful moments. We meet Morrie as an older man who enjoys life to the fullest. He eats, he dances (albeit sans Charlotte) until one day he collapses trying to get into his car. His body is starting to fail him, although his mind is as sharp as ever. Mitch, on the other hand, is forever running from one place to another, trying to meet the next deadline and spread himself thin with a newspaper column and television obligations. His relationship with his girlfriend Janine (Moniz) plays out mostly over the phone, and Janine is growing tired of rarely seeing Mitch. And when she and Mitch are in the same room, he is working and promising they will go out to dinner if she just gives him five more minutes.
Mitch once promised Morrie he would visit him after he graduated from college, but life got in the way, and Mitch finds out by sheer good fortune about Morrie's condition after seeing a Nightline story about him. A guilty Mitch visits Morrie at his home near Boston, and Mitch manages to visit Morrie each Tuesday. Morrie senses right away how Mitch's career drive has left him unhappy and unfulfilled. Mitch has lost the ability to connect to others, and Morrie makes it his final act of kindness to help Mitch right his ship.
Tuesdays with Morrie successfully juxtaposes the frantic pace of Mitch's life with the serenity of Morrie's. Morrie faces his deteriorating health as best he can, but the death of his young mother during his childhood still haunts him, as well as trying to understand his cold, distant father years after his death. Morrie declares he will not die alone as his father did, but surrounded by his family, peace, and love. He wants Mitch not to be alone also, and makes Mitch see how he uses his professional life to push away those who matter the most to him.
The movie is for all intents and purposes a two-man show, with two wonderful actors working with easy, unforced chemistry. This isn't a one-way street, in which Mitch is the only one affected by their relationship. Morrie is also positively affected. His meetings with Mitch give him something to look forward to, and may even give him enough drive to prolong his life for at least a little while longer. Hank Azaria is given the unenviable task of working alongside the legendary Jack Lemmon, and he is more than capable of performing that task. Lemmon remains among my personal top five best actors. Like Tom Hanks or Jimmy Stewart, he is relatable, human, and we will follow him into hell. Very few actors are able to take us along for such a ride. Lemmon died in 2001, with Tuesdays with Morrie being among his final roles, and Morrie Schwartz is someone almost tailor-made for Lemmon's strengths as an actor. Morrie is not a one-dimensional dying man who spouts banal profundities on cue, but someone with a deep, subtle insight into human nature to which we bear witness. What a treasure. What an actor. I miss him.
i agree
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