May 13, 2008

Young@Heart

So tonight, wanting a break from the monotony of regular Tuesday nights, my mother and I saw "Young@Heart," a film running in limited screening across the States. For those of you who need interpolation on its plot, it's about a group of senior citizens who sing rock songs from the 1960's to present (the title of the film shares its name with the group itself.)

Normally, film discussion is not something I share publicly-- I'm not sure how comfortable I would be giving my film criticism-- but I want to talk about this one just briefly, because I think the emotions it invokes are very unusual for a documentary.

For example: there is a wonderful scene about halfway in the film with a 2005 song by Coldplay, "Fix You". The organ fades in with Chris Martin's vocals (as the song opens normally) as two members of the Young&Heart group begin performing their own duet of the piece. Shortly after, the backing choir begins singing as well, and the Coldplay song fades out as Young&Heart's in-house instrumentation takes its place. It's extremely moving and heartfelt, and being a sucker for soft organ parts, it made me choke up just slightly. But after playing the piece, a few of the members talk about their thoughts on the song-- which they had heard for the first time-- and it restores the light-hearted mood of the film.

It's one thing to be simultaneously happy and sad by watching, say, dramatic fiction, but Young@Heart is a real story with real people; it's not even about the actual performance. What you take away is a sense of honest passion for the music they play, which is why their rehearsal of Coldplay's song has the same musical eloquence of the actual band performing it.

And even if you don't plan on seeing it-- or it's not playing near your theater-- watch this YouTube video of one of the final scenes in the film (the culminating live performance.) There's a chance you'll enjoy watching all 3 minutes and 39 seconds of it.