Starring Joe Benoit,
Bob Cilman,
Stephen Walker,
Dora B. Morrow,
Helen Boston,
Louise Canady,
Elaine Fligman,
Jean Florio,
Len Fontaine,
Stan Goldman,
Jeanne Hatch,
Eileen Hall,
Donald Jones,
Fred Knittle,
Norma Landry,
John Larareo,
Miriam Leader,
Patsy Linderme,
Brock Lynch,
Steve Martin,
Joe Mitchell,
Gloria Parker,
Liria Petrides,
Ed Rehor,
Janice St. Laurence,
Bob Salvini,
Jack Schnepp
The Young@Heart Chorus is a vocal group from Northampton, Massachusetts who have earned an international reputation for their unique interpretations of songs by Sonic Youth, the Ramones and the Clash. However, this isn't a teenage garage band attacking the classic punk rock songbook -- the Young@Heart Chorus is comprised of twenty-two senior citizens whose average age is eighty, and under director Bob Cilian they've gained a degree of fame for their enthusiastic a capella renditions of well-known rock and roll tunes. Filmmaker Stephen Walker spent several weeks with the members of the Young@Heart Chorus as they rehearsed for their annual concert in Northampton, and Young@Heart is a documentary which offers a look at their rigorous rehearsal process, the background of several members, and their efforts to stay active and think positive, even as their friends succumb to old age. Produced for British television, Young@Heart was screened in competition at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
The thought of a documentary about a choir of 80-year-olds performing songs by the Clash and Sonic Youth might be enough to send the average person running for an insulin injection, but for the most part Young@Heart director Stephen Walker keeps the sappiness to a minimum. Occasionally, Walker can't help playing up the inherent cuteness of the conceit, but those moments are more than tempered, however, by film's two most fascinating people -- Bob Cilman and Fred Knittle. Cilman, the dedicated middle-aged director of the choir, treats his senior singers not like helpless retirees, but like the members of the working ensemble he expects them to be. He is a taskmaster who wants things done right, sometimes showing a lack of patience that humanizes both him and his performers. If Cilman had been behind the camera instead of Walker, the movie might have avoided its occasional flights of greeting-card sentimentality. Fred Knittle, an 81-year-old who performs a mesmerizing version of Coldplay's "Fix You" during the film's climactic concert, towers over the film. He is a strong and engaging personality whose remarkable life spirit stands in stark contrast to his obviously declining physical state. As death comes to some of the group members, and we see how those still living react to those events, the movie audience understands that the majority of these people have long since accepted that mortality is close at hand. Knittle faces these cold hard truths with his modesty, his talent, and his appreciation for what he has in the here and now. He and his companions rage against the dying of the light by singing, and what could be more punk than that? ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide