Young at Heart

British filmmaker Stephen Walker documents the rehearsal and performance process of the Young@Heart Chorus, a group of 24 seniors (average age 80) who tour the world with a show made up of cover versions of songs by such groups as the Clash (“Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”), the Ramones (“I Wanna Be Sedated”), Coldplay, Talking Heads and others. At first there’s an uneasy sense that Walker may be patronizing these old folks, but no—he plainly loves the group and its patient director Bob Cilman, and by the time they’re all through with us, we do, too. The movie is joyous and brimming with life, but of course, given the subject, the shadow of the Grim Reaper is never far out of camera range, and Walker shows us how they handle that, as well as how they handle the music of Allen Toussaint or Sonic Youth.