A bracing view of two feisty elders

Cinema is such an emotion-fraught medium it’s easy to pass off the fraudulent and the counterfeit as genuine.

“You’ll laugh, you’ll cry,” they promise.

It’s a pledge so common as to be cliche, yet how many films actually deliver that elusive double dose of emotion? Even cinema-saturated wretches see only a small handful of films each year that wear the masks of comedy and tragedy equally, and those that do so honestly are even rarer.

That’s why Laura Gabbert’s “Sunset Story” is such a pleasure. A feisty little documentary that conveys the spirited friendship of two elderly women by doing more than simply tugging at the heartstrings, it’s finally receiving a theatrical release after making the rounds on the film festival circuit.

Irja Lloyd, 81, and Lucille Alpert, 95, are residents of Sunset Hall Retirement Residence, billed on its van as a “Home for Free-Thinking Elders,” near MacArthur Park. Most of the inhabitants, ranging from 65 to 101, are left-leaning and pro-labor, and some were even -- horrors! -- Communists. Most were professionals or artists and there is a distinctive bohemian, activist vibe to the place.

Though using a wheelchair and slowed by a heart attack, Irja is at the center of this activism, organizing protests in support of things such as organized labor and women’s rights and denouncing HMOs and Social Security cuts. Lucille needs assistance when walking and is able to balance herself behind Irja while pushing her. The duo arrived at Sunset Hall within weeks of one another and were soon inseparable, becoming a familiar sight around the two-story facility. Each says she believes the other’s presence saved her life; they check up on each other and make treks to Langer’s Deli.

Both women worked until they were 76, outlasted friends and husbands and are articulate and fiercely independent, but despite their close bond they are total opposites in temperament. Irja, an optimist who’d been a special education teacher, is extremely patient and good-natured. Lucille, on the other hand, is an obstinate, pragmatic newshound, reading the paper daily and regularly watching CNN and Sunday morning news programs. The two are politically in sync but still manage to disagree on a variety of subjects, often sounding like an old, married couple.

Irja, a Finnish Unitarian, urges Lucille, an assimilated Jew, to embrace her heritage, encouraging her to speak Yiddish and observe Jewish holidays and rituals. At one point after Irja asks her to read a prayer, Lucille retorts, “You’re getting so Jewish, you read it.”

Gabbert neither sentimentalizes nor venerates her subjects, but manages an intimate portrait of the two women while subtly commenting on the marginalizing of elders. “Sunset Story” is a sincerely affecting film, truthfully inspiring emotion, both happy and sad.

Also screening is another genuine article, Liz Blazer’s animated documentary short “Backseat Bingo,” a bright, swinging look at a group of lively senior citizens who candidly discuss sex and mortality (but mostly sex).

Their views on romance, relationships and what they look for in a man or woman sends a clear message that it’s never too late for love.

Blazer cleverly cut up watercolors, fabric and printed textures and then animated them to the interviews she conducted creating a visually striking film. The result is a wonderfully humorous take on a seldom-broached subject.

*

‘Sunset Story’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Adult themes

ITVS presents a Gabbert/Libresco production, released by Vitagraph Films. Director Laura Gabbert. Producers Laura Gabbert, Caroline Libresco, Eden Wurmfeld. Director of photography Shana Hagan. Editor William Haugse. Music Peter Golub. Running time: 1 hour, 13 minutes.

With the animated documentary short “Backseat Bingo,” director Liz Blazer. Running time: 6 minutes.

Exclusively at Laemmle’s Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Blvd., (323) 655-4010.