★★★½ Young@Heart

[Twinkletoes: 3.5]

Twinkletoes says: 'This documentary is about the Young@Heart chorus, a group of senior citizens ranging in age from about 75 to 95 who perform rock music from the likes of everyone from the Talking Head and Sonic Youth to Coldplay and James Brown. 15 minutes in I was loathing this thing which seemed like a cheesy one note novelty act. And then you start to see the effect this chorus has on both the members and the audiences they perform for and it becomes a really moving tale about aging. My major problem was that the director decided to show music videos from the group throughout the film. We're talking about extremely kitschy stuff that plays up the novelty factor and really marginalizes the emotional impact of this group. One second we're being heartbroken at a performance of the song Forever Young in front of a prison and right after the death of one of the chorus members, and the next second I'm looking at a bunch of 80+ year olds dressed like John Travolta and singing Staying Alive. A good documentary slightly marred by some bad decisions by the director.'