Young @ Heart is an enormously endearing documentary about a spirited chorus of retirees from Northampton, Mass. who perform internationally as part of the group that gives the film its name.
But they don't perform classical ballads and they don't sing Gershwin tunes and they don't wax operatic. What they sing -- from their own unique perspective -- are cover versions of rock, punk, and rhythm-and-blues tunes by contemporary artists.
We follow the group over the course of seven weeks as they rigorously train three times a week for a concert, struggling with unfamiliar melodies and difficult lyrics. They also perform in a number of music videos. And we watch as they bring an audience of hardened prison inmates to tears.
Now I know what you're thinking. A documentary? About senior citizens? Singing? What are you, kidding?
Nope, I'm serious. More serious, in fact, than the movie itself, which has a sparkling sense of humor and mischief. This film will affect you in ways few big-budget narrative movies even approach.
The energy, enthusiasm, and dedication of the folks on display, nearly all of whom are either septuagenarians or octogenarians (there's even one solo-singing nonagenarian) is infectious.
And you thought the Rolling Stones were getting up there!
The group's songbook includes numbers by Coldplay, The Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Sonic Youth, The Police, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, The Sex Pistols, The Bee Gees, The Ramones, James Brown,
and others.
And songs with titles like "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and "I Feel Good" and "Golden Years" and "Stayin' Alive" and "Fix You" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" take on whole new shades of meaning and poignance when they're being sung by singers who are AARP members.
The choir director is the driven and demanding Bob Cilman, the fiftysomething who started the group 25 years ago. Watching him putting these oldsters through their paces makes for a viewing experience that's precious and dry and weepy and feeble and crotchety and amateurish, right? Wrong. Just the opposite.
But be forewarned: this being a film that's about life and death, the unexpected expectedly happens. And you'll be sufficiently emotionally invested by the time it does that it will affect you. Moreover, it might even turn you into a sobbing, blubbering mess, like someone I could mention whom I occasionally notice in the mirror.
Director Stephen Walker, who also serves as the narrator, takes us from the lighthearted early reels through the heartbreaking later ones with a sure hand.
Be prepared to find your smile, test out your tear ducts, tap your feet, and cherish your youth while these vigorous oldsters sing their hearts out, hope their hearts don't give out, and thereby easily win our hearts.
So we'll belt out 3½ stars out of 4 for this monumentally moving and life-affirming documentary that exudes charm, humor, inspiration, and admiration as it showcases the pleasure of performance and the transformative power of music.
Or, as Frank Sinatra liked to sing,
"If you survive to 105,
Look at all you derive
out of being alive.
Then here is the best part,
You have a head start,
If you are among the very young at heart."
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Now I know what you're thinking. A documentary? About senior citizens? Singing? What are you, kidding?
