Make Way for Tomorrow is a quiet punch to the gut

Should you watch Make Way for Tomorrow? Only if you are prepared to spend the rest of the evening staring at a wall while feeling an ache in your chest. It’s not a movie for people who want a quick thrill or a tidy ending. If you’re the type of person who gets impatient when a story doesn't move fast, you’ll probably find this one frustratingly slow. But if you have ever felt that strange, heavy realization that your parents are getting older, it might ruin you in the best way possible.

The whole premise is so simple it’s almost cruel. The bank takes the house. The kids have their own lives, their own bills, and their own tiny apartments. Nobody has space for two old people who talk too much and move too slow. It reminds me a bit of the way people treat the past in Acabaram-se os Otários—like it’s just something you have to tidy away to make room for the new stuff.

There is this one moment in a hotel lobby where they are trying to act like they aren't completely lost. It’s heartbreaking. You can see the exact second they realize they don't have a 'home' anymore, just a series of rooms they are waiting to be moved out of. The way they hold onto each other’s hands feels so heavy, like they are holding onto the only solid thing left in a world that is moving on without them.

It’s not some grand, sweeping tragedy. It’s just the small, pathetic details that get you. The way a son looks at his watch while his mother is trying to tell him a story. The way a daughter-in-law sighs when the phone rings. It’s the kind of stuff that happens every day, but seeing it laid out like this makes you feel like a terrible person for ever being annoyed by your own family.

I found myself getting weirdly angry at the children. Not because they are villains—they aren't—but because they are just so exhausted by their own lives that they can't see what they’re doing. It’s not malicious. It’s just cold. It’s a bit like the frantic, hollow energy you see in Bombshell, where everyone is chasing something so hard they forget to actually be human beings.

There is a scene at a train station that goes on just a little too long. It’s awkward, and the silences feel jagged. Most movies would have cut that out, but here, that silence is the point. You’re sitting there thinking, just say something nice to them, but they can’t. They are already thinking about their own commutes.

I didn't expect the ending to hit as hard as it did. It doesn't give you the satisfaction of a fix. It just leaves you there, standing on the platform with them. It’s honest, and that’s why it’s so difficult to watch. 📽️