Last night Rachel and I went to see Young@Heart. Our goal was to get as far away from sappy love movie’s, and I think we succeeded. Here’s the plot summary from IMDB:

Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, whose average age is 81, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music is unexpected, going against the stereotype of their age group, performing songs, for example, by James Brown, and Sonic Youth. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs, not an easy endeavor, for a concert in their home town, which succeeds in spite of several real heart breaking events.

Was I skeptical about this movie? Yes. It’s a movie about senior citizens signing and dancing. Er.

However, I go to the movies once a week and my selections were running a little thin. (I recommend seeing Priceless and The Visitor). Reading some of the reviews, this movie has been acclaimed by viewers as the feel good movie and all-inspiring. Rotten Tomatoes has an 88% rating, IMDB user ratings is at 7.9/10 (400 votes), and was a NYT critics’ pick receiving a 4.5 out of 5 among the readers who voted.

It was scary to think I’ll be that old someday. But also encouraging to see how happy they were; how full their lives were. Full of life. It would have been interesting to hear some of their stories as young adults. But that would have made for a very long movie.

Young@Heart is directed by Stephen Walker and has been apart of several movie festivals since 2007 (LA, SXSW, European Film Market, Atlanta). The movie is rated PG.