Baycrest

BrainMatters SPRING|SUMMER 2020 11 Through the course of the movie, Mina develops a bond with Luis. She cooks Cuban dishes for him, plays the music he grew up listening to, and we see his personality shine through as the songs and food ignite his memories as a young musician in Cuba. Mina approaches her care for Luis with love, and in challenging the nursing home's approach to caring for patients with dementia, she discovers the man behind the diagnosis. "I was always fascinated by what Robert De Niro did in the film Awakenings. I was interested in going into a character like that. It's exciting to go there. It's like [being] Christopher Columbus for an artist," says Gossett. In Awakenings, De Niro played a patient who went from a catatonic to an awakened state when he was provided with new drug treatment options. Eventually, when those experimental drugs stop working, De Niro's character is once again consumed by his condition. In The Cuban, Gossett similarly portrays a character defined at first by the various behaviour patterns of a dementia patient, when he transforms from a seemingly calm state to having bouts of severe aggression. By showing what is happening inside the mind of the patient, the fear causing Luis's aggression is revealed to the audience. "We enter the twilight zone as an artist. We go past the line to lead our audience to the mind of the character in a safe way." Playing Luis's character gave Gossett a deeper understanding of how the mind works, "When Luis smelled the food that he had in Cuba, memories of his childhood came back. When he listened to Cuban music, memories of the love of his life came right back to him." The Cuban is more than a movie about dementia; it is a story of how we overcome trauma through art and human connection. The actor feels strongly about making an impact through his performance. "It feels good to know you're making headway in a positive area to help people understand what those with dementia are going through. We are raising awareness to make others understand a bit more." Ryan Kimel is the executive producer of The Cuban. A long-standing supporter of Baycrest, Kimel provided BrainMatters with the opportunity to speak with Louis Gossett Jr. to discuss how the actor prepared for his role. For our exclusive interview with the legendary actor, please visit: baycrest.org/interviewwithlouisgossettjr. "It feels good to know you're making headway in a positive area to help people understand what those with dementia are going through. We are raising awareness to make others understand a bit more." A scene from "The Cuban" with Ana Golja and Louis Gossett Jr.

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