The short film Once Again shows a story that is little told despite its commonality—that of being the live-in caregiver for your mentally declining parent, and how it can impact your own mental health. The daily interruptions, the frustrations, and the phenomenon of having to sometimes just “go with it.” This drama captures that particular slice of life with warmth and accuracy. The Puerto Rican writer-director Coraly Santaliz has a sensitive touch for quiet realism, and lets the adult daughter character in this story experience anger at the repetitive actions that signal her mother’s mental deterioration, and distractions and mistakes at work, but still, at the end of the day, lets her laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Both of the actresses here express emotion in a way that feels genuine, the daughter being so frazzled and her mother with Alzheimer’s disease so seemingly innocent and well-meaning that it’s hard to reconcile with the fact that her behavior is actually quite annoying. Still, a couple of the major tenets of working with Alzheimer’s form the heart at this film’s core: that of being able to find some humor in it, and that of being able to just go along for the ride sometimes.
You can watch Once Again now for FREE now in Shorts Block No. 3 of the virtual festival: https://watch.eventive.org/mentalfilmness2024/play/67020c7b64a67e00480d87a3/66f08d5ac28394004fdd5f6a
