Thank You and Good Night (1991) User Reviews

A touching, clever look at an adult granddaughter's poignant relationship with her ailing grandmother.

[AHF · 9/10 · 29 March 2002]

What does a dedicated granddaughter do when she's not ready to say goodbye to her dying grandmother? Make a poignant, heartfelt, cinematic homage to the woman who meant so much to her for so long.

Although made on a small budget, this film's occasional kitschy special effects add a layer of warmth in a family documentary that unabashedly looks at what it was like to grow up Jewish in New York, with a grandma who was your idol.

Family dysfunction is not overlooked in this true portrayal of one relative's slow deterioration, rewinding and fast-forwarding to all aspects of aging.

Honesty is foremost in this often humorous look at one family's foibles, without engaging in maudlin manipulation.

And one thing is most certain: This is a movie you won't forget.

Mazel tov, Jan Oxenberg!

a unique memorial

[mjneu59 · 7/10 · 7 January 2011]

Comedian/filmmaker Jan Oxenberg comes to terms with the death of her grandmother, in a so-called 'docu-fantasy' which is easier to recommend than it is to describe. The Borscht Belt humor and odd cardboard (yes, actual cardboard) characters can be a little distracting, but under all the self-indulgent padding and low-budget artifice is an emotional true story taking a unique, personal approach to the universal experience of mortality and grief.

Oxenberg's comic musings on the afterlife owe a lot to Woody Allen, and the over-abundance of voice-over commentary can't help but pale next to the actual biographical footage of the director's dying grandmother. But in the end the film succeeds in providing a lighthearted, but no less thoughtful, look at the common tragedy of a death in the family. Best recurring gag: the satirical jab at psychobabble therapy, with Oxenberg's cardboard alter ego stretched out on the analyst's couch.

This is one of my favorite, low-budget...

[openroad-1 · 10/10 · 17 September 2007]

...independent films of all time, and since I'm over 50 and have been seeing independent films since I was a teenager, this is saying something. Like the first reviewer here, I too was touched by the heartfelt but honest nature of the film. And I agree that the rough special effects, which indeed are full of kitsch, only add to the warmth of the film.

Jan Oxenberg's look at her own family and its history climaxes in a revelation that I found to be one of the most moving moments I've ever had in watching a film. Ditto for the scene in the (Midtown?) Tunnel. I've scene this film several times, and its emotionally powerful impact on me is renewed every time.

Bravo, Jan Oxenberg!