Last Saturday I watched one of the most funny and moving documentaries I’ve seen in a long time – Young@Heart by Stephen Walker from Walker George Films.
If you didn’t catch it, the film follows young@heart, a chorus line of senior citizens (average age 80),
rehearsing for one of their world tours.
What makes the group different is the music they cover. Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Coldplay etc.
Of course this is what makes it amusing, but it is also what makes it incredibly moving.
It’s like hearing Johny Cash singing Hurt by Ten Inch Nails. You suddenly hear the words with a clarity and emotion that only someone who has truly lived can convey.
It’s worth adding that these guys have been doing it with an ever changing lineup since the early eighties, a good 15 years before Johnny Cash.
It’s a great example of two things clashing together that shouldn’t work but does.
One of the standout moments is when they perform at a prison, where the general air is one of amusement and cynicism, only for the prisoners to end up in tears.
Another is one of the old guys singing “Fix You” by Coldplay, whilst hooked up to an oxygen tank.
He dedicated the song to a group member who was supposed to duet with him but died a few days earlier.
Young@heart is being repeated on Channel 4 at 9pm on Saturday, November 22nd, 2006.
