Young@Heart

My mom is on the executive staff for the Phoenix Film Festival, which is so awesome. I've really only been able to take full advantage of it one year when I was home from BYU for a week and I saw a whole bunch of features and shorts, but most years I've been able to go see at least one film (remember last year when I met Jane Seymour?).

Tonight, I left Wes with Aaron and saw Young at Heart.

You've probably heard of them, the geriatric cover choir that does everything from James Brown to Coldplay to Sonic Youth. You may have even seen them on Youtube.

This documentary is just so sweet. It follows the choir over a 7 week period while they prepare some new numbers for a concert. I just fell in love with all the members and it was heartbreaking when not all of them made it to the show. But that's life in a group where the average age is 80.

In particular, I loved John Knittle. He's a former member of the group that had to drop out due to congestive heart failure, but returned as a special favor to sing Coldplay's Fix You. I'm kind of sad that I've never met him, he seems like one of those people that you just want to be around. Any time he's on camera he steals the show with his wit and beautiful voice. I think he sounds a bit like Johnny Cash, and his rendition of Fix You had me in tears at the end of the movie.



The film is quite funny...one of my favorite lines came when the group was discussing a member's brush with death and the director asks one of the women, who apparently had a near death experience at some point, if she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. "No," she responds, "I refused to look!" And there are random music videos throughout the documentary that had me giggling like crazy.

Unfortunately, I think this might be a limited release, so you'll have to look real hard to find it playing somewhere. But if you get the chance, it's a really great way to spend 2 hours. I was worried because the title and subject matter seemed just a little too...too. I don't know, overwrought? But it was really well done and very lighthearted.

On a slightly different but still Phoenix Film Festival related topic, Shane West was there this year. Oh how I wish I had gotten to meet Shane West! My mom bumped into him and said it was like, "Oh, I'm sorry" then she saw who it was, "hehe..hi." He's one good lookin young man.

Also there was Louis Lombardi. Who is Louis Lombardi, you ask?

Edgar Stiles! If you don't watch 24 you don't appreciate how awesome he is, but seriously. I love Edgar.

My mom called and told me he was there and I was like, "Oh no! I love him! Why am I not there??" And then when she talked to him later (cause she's all rubbing shoulders like that) she said, "My daughter loves you, she was so sad when she found out you were here and she couldn't make it!" and he was like, "How sad! Tell her I say hi!"

Edgar said hi to me! So awesome.