Young @ Heart (2008)

Strong and Moving!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's the last weeks of practice before the Young@Heart chorus has its big show. The group comprises of elderly retirees in Northampton, Massachusetts led by Bob Cilman. In 1982, he started the group for the old folks in retirement community to sing vaudeville songs. The group eventually started to sing more modern songs and now sings a wide selection of edgier work around the world. They are trying to learn new songs for the performance but life of the elderly group is not always so forgiving.The part after the introduction is generally scattered as the filmmaker interviews various seniors. Initially, it's not as deep as one may expected. There are some sex adjacent talk. Then Bob Cilman has a heart-attack. In a fictional movie, Bob would battle death and end up doing the show. That's what it looked like in the hospital as Bob focused on the concert poster. Even if he can't say a word, one can sense his determination. Then, reality intervenes and Bob dies. That is the movie's biggest gift and central point. Nobody gets out of here alive. When Joe Benoit dies next, it's as if real life wanted to make sure the point isn't lost. These men and women all understand mortality in a real unwritten way. There are powerful emotions and determination at work here.

I didn't know what to expect when I read the label. Some elderly people singing the songs of Coldplay and Jimi Hendrix. OK, sounds like a fun movie. It was without a doubt the most moving movie I've seen as far as I could remember! And I was not at all prepared for that.It makes you stop and really think about life, and what you're doing with it and where it's heading for you.It's uplifting and sad at the same time. The prison scene did it for me. But if anyone reads these comments and are scared away by the words "sad" or "depressing", TRUST ME... you will not regret watching this.I also loved the "music videos". They really helped make this movie enjoyable to watch.My only negative reactions (with the reality, not the film)... and this is definitely a spoiler, was Bob's ego. Especially when playing in front of a live audience. I felt that he should have been either offstage or at least off to the side. I couldn't believe he had a mike and was singing in the front. He just didn't belong there out in front.

YOUNG AT HEART (2008) **** Rock of ages In Stephen Walker's documentary –or should I say 'rockumentary' – the Young at Heart Chorus, a group of senior citizens who sing rock and roll songs, based in Northhampton, MA, is profiled with breadth and levity showcasing their individual talents as well as performing as an ensemble, as well as their ailments and the living testimony that it is never too late to rock 'n' roll.Founded by Bob Cilman, a fifty something year old 'kid', originally as a choir specializing in old pop standards, Broadway show tunes and 'old folk' music he came up with the idea over 25 years ago to incorporate classic and contemporary rock staples which became something of a gimmick at first but fully realized as something more: underscoring many of the lyrics with a unique perspective and interpretation by his octogenarian sect (the media age of 80).Since then the group has barnstormed all over the country – and the world – and getting much acclaim. Walker films the several weeks of rehearsal for a new gig and Cilman's tough task-master skills at display in attempting to get his singers to hit the right notes, pick up the right beat cues and most importantly now the song cold. While there are some frustrations felt by Cilman for the most part he is fair and allows his group the time and effort to develop into a finely tuned body that is surprising in the process not only how they are attuned but also how they function. What is unexpected is the melancholy feel throughout as some of the members fall into bad health situations (sadly two of its key singers pass away before their fated concert the film focuses on) but it is also with plenty of humor, insight of what it means to be elderly but not 'old' and how in the autumn of one's life one can appreciate a new calling (i.e. many of the choir prefer classical music than the genre they are covering).The true highlights are the short videos interspersed through out the doc including "Stayin' Alive", "I Wanna Be Sedated" and a clever "On the Road To Nowhere", as well as a performance at a state prison to a captive audience. I was overwhelmed by the professionalism the troupe displayed as 'amateurs' in the old adage "the show must go on" and the true emotional peak is member Fred Knittle's heart- wrenching work on Coldplay's "Fix You" as a suitable eulogy to his fallen comrades; if you don't cry then you are simply made of stone.I whole-heartedly recommend you to seek this indie doc out and experience rock and roll in its purest form I've seen in a long time: aged yet wise, like a fine wine. One of the year's best.

It's hard not to like a large group, average age 80, singing punk, blues, and rock 'n roll with enthusiasm in the documentary Young@Heart. Be it Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia" or Cold Play's "Fix You," these seniors are fun to watch in large part because such hip songs are out of place in any room of over 30-year olds. In reality, these old timers are not very good, barely reaching notes or staying in tune. As the saying goes, if they weren't old, they'd never be on stage.It's distracting to be thinking of how the subjects of this energetic documentary are elderly who would not be expected to be performing. Yet, a good doc shows you things you probably never experienced before, so it is a success, regardless of my suspicions that the performers are being exploited as if they were exotic animals in a zoo.So I find myself thinking about their survival (two die during the filming, one after it) rather than the music, and the fact that they can memorize their lines rather than create lovely sounds. I become a picky critic who dares to criticize the work of old people and who wouldn't give them a standing ovation if he were at their concert. Now Tony Bennett I might, and there's the difference.