Sentimental filmmaking rarely works for me (as I mentioned in my "Happy Birthday" review).

It's not that I'm so committed to cynicism and irony that I can't appreciate sincere emotion, but there's something pathetic and annoying about poorly wrought melodrama-- sitting and trying to be patient while some well-meaning young filmmaker fumbles with your heartstrings like a fifteen-year old boy with a bra strap.

(I didn't invent that analogy, I stole it.)

So, it's no small feat to get me emotionally invested in a story like this-- sad old man, and all.  But the power of the moving image is wielded here with decisive facility and control.

A shot of an old man wading into the ocean packs quite a punch, but that image itself is not the trick.  The trick is leading up to that moment, preparing and priming your audience to accept it, winning them, compelling them to care.

Set 'em up and knock 'em down.