Young @ Heart

[Update: New York Times review here.]

[click for trailer]

I had seen the trailer for this a while ago and made a mental note to catch it when it opens in Spring. I've heard a little about this rocking New England senior citizen chorus before and was kinda excited that someone had made a documentary of them. I was reminded of it again when I saw this article in the NYT yesterday about the upcoming movie and so did a little poking around to see if I could videos of them online. Oh boy, are they wonderful! There is something so delightful about seeing grandmas and grandpas rocking out to The Ramones and The Clash :) And these folks have got spunk and spirit in large doses for sure. Especially when it comes to performing rock songs that they themselves might have told their children to turn down back in the day, like "I Wanna be Sedated" by The Ramones:



or (and Jude's going to love this) Sonic Youth's 'Schizophrenia':



But with all that joyousness, there's also a level of poignancy and sadness to the documentary that I think is quite palpable. According to the NYT article, they actually "lost" a few of the troupe's members during the making of the documentary. When the troupe conductor makes a joke about kidney stones in the trailer, you get a sense that kidney stones might be the least of many of their physical concerns. Which is why I say to watch them perform Coldplay's "Fix You" with caution:



By the time I was done with this, my lunch was decidedly soggier and my face was streaked with tears. I adore Chris Martin, but I'm sorry, dude, what this cover lacks in technical perfection, it more than makes up for with a whole lot of heart. When that old man, Fred Knittle, started singing, I literally felt a shiver go through me and I couldn't stop crying till it was over. You can almost feel the hush cast over the concert hall. Apparently, this song was intended to be a duet between Fred and another chorus member, Bob Salvini. Sadly, Bob died of a heart attack and it was left to Fred to carry the song on his own. There are supposed to be some very moving scenes in the film where we see Fred rehearsing alone soon after Bob's death. This is powerful, beautiful stuff, people...

Really.