Friday, April 18, 2008

Movie review: Young@Heart

By Alex Bentley

Young@Heart

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.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on Young@Heart

When Young@Heart, a new documentary about a group of New England senior citizens who reinterpret a variety of rock/pop songs, begins, you can be forgiven if you feel like you’re watching a nature documentary. Director Stephen Walker narrates the film as if detailing his trek into the wild, not the filming of singers twice his age. There’s even an opening close-up shot of a woman screaming, her wrinkles and chin whiskers on display for all to see, as if she were some wild beast.

As it turns out, that woman is the impish Eilleen Hall singing the opening note of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” It’s hard to know what to think of the chorus when we first join them. The way the film is presented, it’s almost like Walker wants us to laugh at the group for having the chutzpah to try to sing songs about which they surely know nothing. And it stays that way for a while as we see their director, Bob Cilman, trying to introduce them to new songs for an upcoming show.

Chorus director Bob Cilman tries to teach Dora Morrow and Stan Goldman "I Feel Good."

However, as the movie goes along, you gradually find yourself sucked into the charm and emotion of it all. Although there’s some novelty in seniors singing rock songs, that’s not why any of them are in the group. In fact, Cilman is the driving force behind the choice of the songs; if the members had their way, they’d be singing the songs they grew up on. No, they’re there because they love to sing and they love the camaraderie that they get from the group. Okay, and because a little part of them likes to defy people’s expectations of what they can do.

Jeff Derose

Fred Knittle sings "Fix You," backed by Eilleen Hall.

Walker follows the chorus through weeks of rehearsal, as they try to learn songs such as Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia,” James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” and Coldplay’s “Fix You.” He intersperses this saga (and, yes, that’s the appropriate word) with music videos of the group, the best of which are The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” and The Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive,” two songs which become better in this context due to their double meaning.

It’s impossible to not become emotionally involved with the members of the group, especially as they go through the trials and tribulations expected of people their age (the average age of the group is around 75). Their successes and failures at learning the songs are sources of humor, but they’re balanced by the intrusion of real life drama, making the film one that’s truly heartwarming AND heartbreaking. The concert that ends the film will have you tapping your feet in rhythm (assuming, of course, you have some) and wiping tears from your eyes.

Young@Heart could’ve used some restraint from the director at inserting himself into the proceedings at almost every turn, but the tale of his subjects is more than enough to balance out that misstep, making this the year’s first must-see documentary.

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