My lord, what a movie I saw last night.
What a future I hope I saw for myself and loved ones.
I'll be writing much more about Stephen Walker's documentary Young@Heart, opening May 2 in a limited number of theaters (hey, this isn't Iron Man). But let me say just a little now, setting up this YouTube clip.
Young@Heart follows 24 senior citizens in New England making up a chorus with a steady concert date calendar. Ages range from 72 to 92 (at least in 2006 when the movie was filmed). The catch is that the Young@Heart chorus only sings rock, pop and R&B songs, from David Bowie to Sonic Youth to the Bee Gees to the Ramones.
Watching these seniors gone mildly wild is one of the most exhilarating movie experiences I've had in a long time. Anyone planning to grow old, or anyone who doesn't want to, needs to see this movie. Of course there are health issues that interfere, including the deaths of two key singers just before a big concert.
Walker never makes a maudlin issue of it, and these feisty folks wouldn't allow him to, anyway. The show goes on in true trouper fashion, including the return of former member Fred Knittle, whose congestive heart disease made him stop singing. Fred is supposed to do a duet of Coldplay's Fix You with another member, Bob Salvini, who dies days before the show. Fred goes it alone for his pal, in a scene that left me smiling through tears that are welling up again as I type this.
Steve Persall is the movie critic for the St. Petersburg Times. He was conceived behind a drive-in movie theater his father operated and raised in projection booths and concession stands. He doesn't care how you did it up north.
Lovely. And beautiful. I'm ready to join this group on tour right now, rather than wait for my age to catch up with them. Fantastic.
Posted by: jane | April 16, 2008 at 03:20 PM