I Like it Here

Director Ralph Arlyck expected to attend

People talk or laugh about aging, its irritations, and relentless progression, but rarely confront the reality of dying or being left alone. Nor do they consider the lightness and calmness that can come when the race seems not so crucial. I Like It Here is about all those things and, in the end, about the pleasures of being alive. A figurehead of American independent documentary film, Ralph Arlyck (Current Events, SFJFF 1990) conveys how it feels to see the winding down of your life, as he spends time with older friends from his past and present, and his children and grandchildren. Woven in with these scenes are personal reflections on the challenges of getting old: of feeling one’s joints and thoughts stiffen, as the camera confronts—both seriously and humorously—the obstacles that materialize in front of anyone who is on the last lap. The wistful tone conveys the type of wisdom that only comes with age. The title’s declaration has a double meaning. The “here” that the filmmaker likes is both his immediate rural surroundings (the fields, water, and neighbors he sees out his window)—and life itself.

Recipient of a 2022 JFI Completion Grant

Bay Area Premiere