Young @ Heart

Here is a movie that could have gone wrong in so many ways. Young @ Heart is a documentary about a group of nursing home residents who go on tour on a regular basis, and perform selected rock music that ranges from James Brown and Talking Heads, to somewhat more current material like Sonic Youth and Coldplay. The movie could have gone wrong if it tried to find humor out of these elderly people singing music that is obviously way beyond their generation, or it could have mocked them. Instead, British filmmaker Stephen Walker holds a lot of love and respect for this group and what they do. This is a warm and sympathetic look at a group of people who wind up defying a lot of odds, and not just musically.

The film is set during a 7 week period as the Young @ Heart group prepare for a sold-out concert coming up. There are 24 members total, along with some musicians, and they are led by musical director, Bob Cilman. He selects the songs they will sing, and then tries his best to get them to memorize the material before the day of the big performance. Some of the songs he chooses are difficult, such as Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can", which includes over 70 uses of the song's title, often repeated one after another. One subplot featured in the film is the difficulty the group has in picking up that song, and keeping their "yes we can"s in rhythm with the music. If there's one thing this movie proves, it's that Mr. Cilman has patience unheard of to work with these people, and with these songs. The age of the singers range around the 70s and 80s, and the film focuses on a select few. We get a few background stories, we get some of the members' personal reactions to the songs Cilman has picked for their latest concert, and we get some poignant stories about two members who are returning the group after bouts with illness forced them to drop out.

This is obviously not a deep or hard hitting documentary. Young @ Heart mixes rehearsal footage with a couple select music videos that the group has done in the past. My personal favorite was their take on The Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated", though their video take on "Staying Alive" is certainly a comic highlight. However, the film works at its best when it follows select members out of the rehearsal hall, and into their private lives. One of the most effective stories featured in the film is that of Fred Knittle, a golden-voiced singer who was forced to leave the group after suffering heart problems. When Cilman calls him back to participate in their latest concert, we find that he is hooked to an oxygen tank, and has some questions about wether he is healthy enough to perform. When he does sing, it is a powerful moment, not only because of his remarkable ability to carry a tune, but also the poignancy of the moment itself. We get some more personal stories like Joe Benoit, who has gone through enough chemotherapy to kill someone. We understand why this group and the opportunity to sing is so important to these people. It's their chance to truly feel alive, even though society and even nature itself is probably telling them otherwise.

Walker was given unlimited access to the group during his period of filming them, and you get the sense that he stumbled upon some genuine drama that turns this into a different kind of film than he was anticipating. What starts as a music documentary takes a much more poignant turn as the health of certain members comes into question during the course of the movie. Two members passed away during the course of shooting, and the movie treats this with dignity and respect, instead of dwelling and heavy-handedness. There is a touching moment when the group performs "Forever Young" for one of their lost friends during a small concert. It's not just the fact that the lyrics have special meaning for those singing it, but the audience they are performing it for seem genuinely touched, and it is one of the more heartfelt moments in the film. When they finally make it to the big concert hall at the end of the film, it truly feels like an accomplishment after everything we have witnessed, and how close we have gotten to them during the course of the movie.

If there's any fault that can be found with Young @ Heart, it's that its nearly two hour running time could have been trimmed to about 90 minutes or so without losing anything. Still, I was quite surprised by this film. The trailers and ad campaign prepared me for a comedy about an elderly group singing rock songs. While there are certainly some very funny moments in the film, this is actually a quiet, honest, and sometimes sad look at the later stages in life, and how these people are trying to make the most out of what time they have left. Young @ Heart is a joyful tribute to life, and should definitely be seen. Maybe not on the big screen, but definitely when it hits DVD or TV.

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