5 Flights Up DVD Blurb by Shale September 22, 2015 I was at Target and saw this DVD for $10, read the little description and figured it would be a dramatic story to which I could relate, especially with Morgan Freeman & Diane Keaton as a long-term married couple. I even wondered how I missed it in theater, but it I had just gotten back from two weeks abroad and saw three other movies the week it was released on May 8, 2015 - IF its limited release even played at the local cinema. Since this is a late DVD blurb, I will just let the movie distributor fill you in on what the story is about. Movie Info Forty years ago, artist Alex Carver (Morgan Freeman) bought a run-down apartment in a sketchy part of Brooklyn with his wife, schoolteacher Ruth (Diane Keaton). Today, their neighborhood is now very hip and their apartment worth a small fortune. The now- retired Ruth and Alex haven't changed - they are still as much in love as ever (but Alex is now having a problem with the five-flight walkup). They have let Ruth's niece Lily (Cynthia Nixon), a real estate agent, list their property to see what the market might bear. On the eve of their open house, the Brooklyn Bridge is rumored to be under a terrorist attack, sending the media into a frenzy and people's attitudes about living in New York. Closer to home, Dorothy, the Carver's beloved dog, is suddenly having trouble walking. While Dorothy is having expensive treatment at the vet, Ruth convinces Alex to go apartment hunting in Manhattan, where they miraculously come across an ideal place they might actually be able to afford. As the world around them seems to mirror their own chaos and confusion, Ruth and Alex realize the same bond of love that has kept them together all these years will allow them to see their way through this crazy weekend as well. (C) Focus World In case you haven't noticed, Ruth & Alex (which is the title of this movie in the UK), are an interracial couple. I guess that was one of the draws for me and I liked the way there was no initial focus on that fact - it was accepted as not unusual in their Brooklyn neighborhood. Ruth & Alex In Brooklyn However, in flashback we see how they met, Alex the young Vietnam veteran artist (Korey Jackson) and Ruth the young college student (Claire van der Boom) working as an artist model for extra cash. Young Alex & Ruth While I did not get a specific date of the movie setting, the 2009 novel (Heroic Measures by Jill Ciment) on which the movie is based has it within a year after Sept. 11, 2001. This would explain a comment about their early relationship being illegal in 20 states and getting stares in the other 30. There is also a flashback scene where Ruth's mother is upset about her marrying a black man and her father not even willing to see her, something that I have experienced well beyond the1960s. I really liked the movie and would recommend it to many of my friends who can appreciated a nice light drama about a couple going thru life changes as they age.
