Marvin's Room (1996)
Estranged since their fathers first stroke some 17 years earlier, Lee and Bessie lead separate lives in separate states. Lees son, Hank, finds himself committed to a mental institution after setting fire to his mothers house. His younger brother, Charlie, seems unfazed by his brothers eccentricities or his mothers seeming disinterest. When Lee comes to the asylum to spring Hank for a week in Florida so that he can be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for Bessie, Hank is incredulous. I didnt even know you had a sister, he says. Remember, every Christmas, when I used to say Well, looks like Aunt Bessie didnt send us a card again this year? Oh yeah, Hank says. Meanwhile, Marvin, the two womens bedridden father, has been dying for the past twenty years. Hes doing it real slow so I dont miss anything, Bessie tells Dr. Wally. In Bessies regular doctors absence, it has fallen to Dr. Wally to inform Bessie that she has leukemia and will die without a bone marrow transplant. This precipitates the two sisters uneasy reunion. In Marvins room, Bessie cares for her fathers every need. In Lees eyes, the sacrifice Bessie has made is too great and realizing the old mans welfare will fall to her if Bessie dies, Lees first instinct is to look for a nursing home. In a few months, Ill have my cosmotology degree, she says. My life is just coming together; Im not going to give it all up, now! As first Lee is tested and then the boys for the compatibility of their marrow with Bessies, the women take stock of their lives and rediscover the meaning of family.

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