Young@Heart ****
Nonna Rating: $$$
My friends Elizabeth Molitors and Jerry Hinck (independently -- they don't know each other) insist that I've never seen a movie I didn't like. Not true! In fact, I have seven backlogged movies to review in the next few days and several of them were just plain awful.
In my defense, I tend to see movies that have been well-reviewed, so as not to waste time or money at clunkers. I use the Rotten Tomatoes website, which collects reviews from everywhere, so, often there are as many as 100 opinions posted on a film. The neat thing is that the site computes the proportion of positive reviews for each movie. Generally, I've found that movies with a 75% or higher are worth seeing -- there have been exceptions, however. Anyway, the site serves as a good guide. (Yes, there have been a few movies with lower ratings that I have liked. What can I say?)
So here's my review of Young@Heart, which received a whopping 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.
As my friend Linda McCarthy said yesterday after seeing the film with me, "There are a lot of life lessons in this movie." So true, but it's not preachy or sentimental or cloying: it just focuses relentlessly on life with all its joy, humor, and sadness. The film highlights an aging singing group (average age 80) based in Northhampton, MA. They could choose to sing the great romantic ballads of the 40s, but instead they belt out songs by Coldplay, The Clash, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, and Talking Heads to name a few.
The film follows the group as they prepare for a concert in their hometown -- before they take off on another tour of Europe. Along the way, they perform a free concert for the local prison. That segment alone provides reason enough to see the film. The expressions on the faces of the prisoners attest to the power of music to heal and to the joy that it generates.
The film, however, does not portray old age as "cute." Many of the group are dealing with serious medical problems. But these senior citizens are not going gentle into that good night. Their energy and commitment model how to grow old and why it behooves us all to respect and care for the elderly who have much to teach us.
Nonna Rating: $$$
My friends Elizabeth Molitors and Jerry Hinck (independently -- they don't know each other) insist that I've never seen a movie I didn't like. Not true! In fact, I have seven backlogged movies to review in the next few days and several of them were just plain awful.
In my defense, I tend to see movies that have been well-reviewed, so as not to waste time or money at clunkers. I use the Rotten Tomatoes website, which collects reviews from everywhere, so, often there are as many as 100 opinions posted on a film. The neat thing is that the site computes the proportion of positive reviews for each movie. Generally, I've found that movies with a 75% or higher are worth seeing -- there have been exceptions, however. Anyway, the site serves as a good guide. (Yes, there have been a few movies with lower ratings that I have liked. What can I say?)
So here's my review of Young@Heart, which received a whopping 87% on Rotten Tomatoes.
As my friend Linda McCarthy said yesterday after seeing the film with me, "There are a lot of life lessons in this movie." So true, but it's not preachy or sentimental or cloying: it just focuses relentlessly on life with all its joy, humor, and sadness. The film highlights an aging singing group (average age 80) based in Northhampton, MA. They could choose to sing the great romantic ballads of the 40s, but instead they belt out songs by Coldplay, The Clash, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, and Talking Heads to name a few.
The film follows the group as they prepare for a concert in their hometown -- before they take off on another tour of Europe. Along the way, they perform a free concert for the local prison. That segment alone provides reason enough to see the film. The expressions on the faces of the prisoners attest to the power of music to heal and to the joy that it generates.
The film, however, does not portray old age as "cute." Many of the group are dealing with serious medical problems. But these senior citizens are not going gentle into that good night. Their energy and commitment model how to grow old and why it behooves us all to respect and care for the elderly who have much to teach us.
Nonna Rating System:
$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$ = Worth paying the Matinee price
$$ = Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it
$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$ = Worth paying the Matinee price
$$ = Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it
No comments:
Post a Comment