Finally saw one that blew my doors off last night: "Young@Heart," British filmmaker Stephen Walker traveled to Northampton, Mass., to film the Young@Heart Chorus, a vocal choir whose average age is 80 and whose choice of material includes songs by The Clash, James Brown, Sonic Youth, and a lot of Talking Heads.
Watching two very old-timers give The Godfather of Soul?s ?I Feel Good? their all is a very special experience indeed, and the movie works like a charm at the cutesy-grandpa level. As ?Young@Heart? progresses, though, and some of the choir members fall by the wayside, the real toughness and clarity of the subjects renders the film immensely moving. These geriatrics have no illusions about where they are and where they?re going ? soon ? and their response is to find new meaning in Coldplay?s ?Fix Me? and bellow the Clash?s ?Should I Stay or Should I Go? against the dying of the light. It?s a lesson not lost on everyone at this festival.
Here's some video of choir director Bob Cilman addressing the audience after the screening. (If I'd had my finger on the trigger faster I would have captured 85-year-old Dora Morrow doing her best James Brown impression. What can I say -- I'm a critic, not a cameraman.)
