Young @ Heart

To lift spirits, Autumn and I caught Young @ Heart today at Lincoln Plaza. If you haven't seen the preview, check it out here.

In short, it is a documentary about a group of seniors, of which the average age is 80, who are in a chorus that sing rock and roll covers. Everything from Sonic Youth to James Brown to Coldplay.

The premise is cute enough, and I expected plenty of chuckles—eeee, old people singing The Clash—and it delivered for the most part. What really surprised me, was the way the film dealt with the deaths of several of its members. This isn't giving anything away really—you see a film like this, and you should expect some death—but the way the film acknowledges the death and then picks itself back up again was moving to say the least. I will admit some tears did fall, after all I did lose a grandma in the recent past, not to mention I was not in a fit emotional state myself.

However, my negative critique centers on the random, and unnecessary, music videos the filmmakers made the choir perform. The videos jerk you out of the story and serve no real purpose except to give another chance to chuckle at the funny old people singing seemingly inappropriate songs, but we get enough of that watching them prepare for their next big show. Had these been left in the editing room where they belong, the film would have been much more successful, but as it was, the gimmick wears thin by the end. (I just resisted the urge to make a really bad thin as their hair joke. I think I'm growing up... )

P.S. Yes, that is how the title is written on the poster. I wrote it correctly like a good fact-checker, but I cringe at it. Don't say I skimp on details.

P.P.S. This post has been languishing in draft form for awhile, so forgive its untimeliness.