Annette Basile
“I was really worried that this was going to be a one-trick pony,” Young @ Heart director, Stephen Walker, told FilmInk in 2007. “I was worried that it was going to be karaoke, and that it would be patronising and embarrassing. But I just loved what they did with the music. I loved the way that the lyrics changed their meanings because it was old people singing them.”
In the first scenes of Walker’s delightful doco, 92-year-old Eileen Hall is seen leading the chorus through a punk rock song made famous by The Clash. Later, the chorus – whose average age is eighty – will tackle tunes originally recorded by Sonic Youth, The Ramones, Coldplay, James Brown, Talking Heads, and David Bowie. The marriage of contemporary rock with senior citizens is, of course, an unlikely combination, and has a certain novelty value. Novelty alone, however, cannot stretch into a worthy, feature-length documentary, nor account for the Young @ Heart Chorus’ international success. There’s more going on here than that – these seniors are sensational. True, some of the solo voices are somewhat shaky, but most are astounding, and when blended together, they produce a full-bodied sound that has genuine musical value.
Narrated by Walker himself, Young @ Heart follows the chorus as they rehearse new material for a big gig in their hometown of Northampton, Massachusetts. Led by middle-aged musical director and notoriously hard taskmaster, Bob Cilman, and aided by a solid backing band, the choir’s interpretation of modern songs is fascinating. “If they were to sing Frank Sinatra numbers, they would all have an instant idea of what Sinatra should sound like, and without even wanting to, they would try to sound like Sinatra,” Walker told FilmInk. “They haven’t got a clue what Talking Heads or Coldplay sound like. Bob Cilman has a field day with them. He can do really unusual things musically because they’ll never resist it.”
Apart from the wonderful music, this thoroughly entertaining doco succeeds because we really get to know these great and gutsy seniors. On a deeper level, it underlines how important community involvement is for older people – the chorus lives for its work. There’s also real life drama. When a couple of the choir members fall ill, the documentary has the ability to move you to tears. Young @ Heart is funny, touching and life affirming. “On a banal level, you realise that these people can really live their lives to the limit – possibilities actually exist within old age to have fun and fulfillment,” Walker Told FilmInk. “On a profound level, it’s changed my perceptions in ways that will only become clear when I get older.”
