Young @ Heart (2008)
Directed by Stephen Walker
Written by Documentary
Starring The Young @Heart Chorus
Release Date April 4th, 2008
Published May 10th, 2008
As I sat down to watch Young @ Heart I expected good things given the positive buzz from other critics. My hesitations came from just how I would enjoy a documentary about seniors singing rock music. I can do camp, I don't mind camp but I didn't want to laugh at old people singing James Brown or Sonic Youth just for the sake of laughing. To my joyous surprise Young @ Heart overcame all of my reservations, surmounted my detachment and touched me as deeply as any movie of the last decade.
Several years ago filmmaker Stephen Walker took in a performance of a senior citizen choir in Northhampton Massachusetts. What he found was a plucky group of oldsters not just singing rock n roll songs but breathing life and magic into these well known tunes. Walker was so inspired he had to tell their story.
Young @ Heart was born 25 years ago as a vaudeville act. It was a way for active seniors to stay active. Then Bob Cilman, the choir director, was struck with an idea. He found that the most rousing, entertaining moments of the old vaudeville show were the songs. Introducing new songs, introducing rock n roll tunes, Cilman transformed the show into Young @ Heart and audiences ate it up.
Now Stephen Walker has brought the Young @ Heart choir to the world and we are better for it. We join the story as the choir is readying their newest show. Bob Cilman is ready to take some risks. With just a few weeks to prepare he is introducing 5 new songs and not just any songs but five truly challenging tunes.
Sonic Youth's Schizophrenia is loud, noisy and incomprehensible to most of the choir. James Brown's I Feel Good is just a bit quick and tongue twisty for the group, especially for the man chosen for the lead, Stan Goldman who, try as he might cannot keep up with the lyrics. If you think I Feel Good is a tongue twister, how about Allen Toussaint's Yes We Can which uses the word can 71 times, mostly in close repetition near the end of the tune. The song comes close to being cut.
The Talking Heads Life During Wartime does not make the show for reasons that have nothing to do with the song or the performance of the choir. But the most moving and heart rending new tune is Coldplay's Fix You sung by a pair of returning vets of the choir. Fred Knittle and Bob Salvini both were forced to give up singing to deal with health problems. Each is convinced they have atleast one show left in them, Bob despite having survived repeated chemo treatments and the administration of last rites.
Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.
Fred Knittle for my money, is the star of Young @ Heart. A former regular member of the choir, Fred had to stop singing because of lung trouble. Now on an oxygen machine, Fred feels he has a show left in him. Does he ever. In him we find the roots of the old vaudeville show that was Young @ Heart. Quick with a one liner, Fred threatens to tip into parody until he sings.
His lovely deep bass is given the assignment to sing Coldplay's Fix You. It was to be a duet but when we reach the night of the show Fred is on his own to sing the lead with the choir backing him up. It's a scene that could not be script. Poignant, heartbreaking and healing all at once, Fred Knittle delivers to us in the audience a performance of a lifetime. Fight back the tears, if you can.
One of the most wonderful moviegoing experiences of my life, Young @ Heart moved me like few movies I have witnessed. Such heart, such hope, such life. It's pure magic that will move, inspire and rock like few movies you've ever seen. Young @ Heart arrives on DVD September 16 and must be seen. This is one of the best movies of the year.
Life, death, joy and sadness, Young @ Heart runs the gamut of emotions in the same way a great song does. It lifts your heart, breaks and heals it all in the space of 108 lovely minutes.
