Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of Young@Heart, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As Stephen Walker's documentary begins, the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving
testament to friendship, creative inspiration and reaching beyond expectations.
An undeniably sweet mix of disarming honesty, inspired gumption and brutal reality, Young@Heart somehow manages to avoid the maudlin while enhancing the obvious with its portrait of a chorus of senior citizens who sing contemporary rock songs.
A chorus (average age 80) prepares for a springtime tour, putting their signature spin on classics--classics like The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go."
The project reeks of commercial calculation, which is just tolerable until Walker, in search of a story arc, follows two chorus members with serious illnesses into the hospital.
Despite the director's smarmy narration and interviews, the bemused equanimity of these folks who've seen it all could inspire each of us to what "we can can" do as we age.
It's a pity that director Stephen Walker, who also narrates, imposes so much of himself on the material, asking at times the most insensitive questions.
The wonderful members of the choir, truly young at heart, overcome the occasional clumsiness of the filmmaker and you come away from this film feeling genuinely uplifted.
The devil may have all the best tunes, but it's the elderly who nail them. Charming, heartwarming and totally kick-ass, you'll never look at your grandparents in the same way.
That might be because the film has already been shown on the BBC - a fact that, along with the unprepossessing production values, rather begs the question of why bother with a cinematic release at all?
Judicious trimming would have improved the movie, but Johnny Cash-voiced Fred Knittle's opening night rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You", dedicated to the recently departed members, is guaranteed to leave not a dry eye in the house.
A worse film might be dismissed as sobsploitation. But Stephen Walker's documentary - a labour of love inspired by Walker's first sight of the group in a London West End show - touches the mind as well as the heart.
A touching documentary about the unlikeliest of American institutions, a chorus group from New England made up of seniors that performs an annual show, sometimes in Europe, despite the fact that many members are knocking at death's door. What's more, the film is punctuated by a few "music video" interludes that
showcase some telling tracks, particularly "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones, David Bowie's "Golden Years" and disco classic "Stayin' Alive". It won't take long to warm up to this film as you watch it, and it's impossible to avoid being moved. "I'm just tired and bored with myself," (a line from Bruce Springsteen's "Dancin' in the Dark") sure sounds different coming from a group of 80-year-olds performing at a prison... and making the inmates cry! Young of Heart wedges a beautiful slice of.life between plenty of entertaining songs, and it makes for a film that's not to be missed.
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