Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, January 29: THE MAYOR
Jared Scheib’s look at the lives of a trio of seniors had its world premiere at DocAviv in 2011. It went on to screen at Lone Star, Documentary Edge, Little Rock, and the Dallas VideoFest. FilmBuff releases the film on iTunes and Amazon today.
The titular star of Scheib’s film is Sam Berger, a good-natured octogenarian who’s on a first-name basis with just about everyone in his Texas retirement home. After the death of his wife, Berger rediscovered the need for human connection in his new community, and transformed into a latter-day casanova, happily running around with various women, but not without generating his fair share of jealousy, gossip, and drama. In counterpoint to Berger’s escapades are fellow residents Dorothy and Ceil, two senior women who reflect on their long-standing relationships to their husbands, the nature of love, and the impact of aging on their lives and sex lives. The strength of these three characters’ personalities move the viewer through Scheib’s loosely structured, but often very entertaining, and sometimes quite poignant, portrait of love and companionship in the twilight years.
what (not) to doc 