Young@Heart

This charmer busted out of the film-festival circuit and found moderate arthouse success, most likely because it’s the kind of movie one can recommend without reservation. The documentary follows a Massachusetts-based senior citizens chorus—the average age of the members is 80—whose repertoire includes songs by Sonic Youth, James Brown, Talking Heads, Coldplay and other unlikely artists. This group has a lust for life and a sense of humor in the face of all the trials of advanced age (two members died while the movie was being made, and a third died prior to its release) that’s simply inspirational. And it’s good fun to hear the chorus’ unique take on some pop standards. To that end, the DVD includes several complete music videos (“Stayin’ Alive,” anyone?) among a host of deleted scenes that shed more light on some of the chorus’ members. The only other supplement is a five-minute behind-the-scenes look at the group’s performance in Hollywood.

Shelf Talk: Young@Heart is sure to garner interest from the 40-and-over crowd or anyone entertaining mixed company, such as the in-laws. The movie and its performers are almost ubiquitous these days, as the film is still turning up on some film-festival schedules, and both a digital-only soundtrack of the film and a re-release of Young@Heart’s prior CD were issued this summer.