Hookup: 25 Admit-Two Run-of-Engagement Passes For ‘Young@Heart’ in Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:14:08 -0700

CHICAGO – Following our recent interview with “Young@Heart” director Stephen Walker, choral director Bob Cilman and choral member Dora Morrow, we’re now announcing a new HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film that you’re guaranteed to win so long as you reply in time. These free, admit-two passes can be used in Chicago throughout the run of the film.

RELATED READING
“Young@Heart” interviews (April 18, 2008)

“Young@Heart” audio interview (April 20, 2008)

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full “Young@Heart” gallery

As these are run-of-engagement passes, they can be used any time Monday through Thursday for complimentary admission to regularly scheduled screenings at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema (2828 N. Clark St.) in Chicago.

Since these are movie theatre-approved passes that must be printed on specific paper, winners will need to supply us with your physical mailing address so they can be mailed to you via postal mail.

The film documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the “Young@Heart” chorus in Northampton, Mass. Their average age is 81. Many must overcome health challenges just to participate and one member dies in the process.

To snag your tickets now, make sure you’re logged into your HollywoodChicago.com account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Next, click “Add new comment” below. In your comment, include your answer to this question:

Regardless of how old you are, how do you keep young?

Once your comment is live, you must e-mail us your physical mailing address using this contact form so you’re not posting such information publicly. Winners commenting but not e-mailing your physical mailing address will be ineligible for passes. “Young@Heart” opened on April 18, 2008.

A video of the “Young@Heart” gang in action can be found below. Others can be found here (singing “Road to Nowhere”) and here (singing “I Wanna Be Sedated”).

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: If You Should Survive to a Hundred and Five, You Can End Up ‘Young@Heart’

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:12:13 -0700

CHICAGO – At the base of its premise as a documentary, “Young@Heart” seems like a can’t-miss proposition. Take a senior-citizen choral group and have them sing rock ‘n’ roll. But what really emerges is an essence and poignancy that goes beyond the black and white of just singing the rock songs. As the “Grateful Dead” once sang: “In every silver lining there is a touch of grey.”

Director of the “Young@Heart” chorus Bob Cilman.
Photo credit: Brandy Eve Allen

HollywoodChicago.com recently interviewed three of the major components of “Young@Heart”. For starters, there’s the amazing persona and life of one of the key choral members: the 86-year-old Dora B. Morrow. Next, there’s eclectic choral director Bob Cilman. Finally, there’s the British director who brought all the elements together to create the whole picture: Stephen Walker.

“When I first saw them,” said director Walker, “and I start the movie with this, there was Eileen Hall. She’s a 92-year-old woman who tottered up to the microphone and belted out the opening lines of ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ by The Clash. It occurred to me that she really was singing about life and death.”

“Young@Heart” chorus member Dora Morrow (center).
Photo credit: Brandy Eve Allen

“What convinced me to do the film,” said choral director Cilman, “was Steve and his production team. They were willing to just do what we wanted them to do, which was to document the process of taking a rock song presented to the group from nothing to the final staging. That just felt right.”

And right it is. Through the film, we see the process of a particular set of pop and rock songs being prepared through rehearsal, through the tribulations and inevitabilities of the senior moments and finally to glorious conclusion.

“If you stop and look at rock ‘n’ roll,” said choral member Dora, “and if you learn the words of it, then you can really understand what it means. When we take it and learn the words, it’s a different song. The audience can get something out of those words.”

Walker added: “The more you listen to these songs, the more they take on other meanings because seniors are singing them. They sing ‘The Road to Nowhere’ by The Talking Heads and it means something totally different. When wonderful choral member Lenny – who’s 87 years old – sings ‘Purple Haze’ and forgets his lines, he’s now singing about dementia.”

“Young@Heart” choral director Bob Cilman in Chicago on March 27, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

This is a different, radical departure in documentary style. Walker wanted a certain look and feel in the film and challenged himself to do something unique. He added: “This is a rock opera about old age. It’s about death, sickness, fun, loneliness and even sex, but it is filtered through familiar rock songs.”

The “Young@Heart” chorus.
Photo credit: Timothy White

One surprising element within the film is standalone music videos – shot in an MTV style – with the choral members participating in the action. “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones is a particular highlight.

“I was interested in exploring the music video angle,” said Cilman. “It was cool to explore a medium that only has young people in it that old people don’t particularly watch and are never in.”

“What was hard about that,” said Walker, “was the challenge to make each song different and which point in the film we were going to feature them. They were deliberately shot during the editing process and are incredibly and carefully placed. If I put had put them in the wrong place, they would seem completely arbitrary and pointless.”

Though the presentation follows the group in a triumphant way, there is tragedy in the deaths of two members during filming including Bob Salvini.

RELATED IMAGE GALLERY
View our full “Young@Heart” image gallery

RELATED AUDIO
Listen to our full audio interview with “Young@Heart” director Stephen Walker

RELATED READING
Read more film reviews from critic Patrick McDonald

“The music video of ‘The Road to Nowhere’ becomes an extraordinary song about approaching death,” Walker said. “We mixed it with Bob Salvini being taken to the hospital by ambulance and then showed an ambulance in the music video. This film isn’t a drama. Bob actually died.”

He added: “We thought it was very bold to do that. I showed it to Bob’s family to make sure we hadn’t crossed a line. They gratefully gave it an absolute thumbs up. It was quite unflinching and uncompromising about mortality – and it had to be.”

Cilman observed: “Because the members have a finite existence with the chorus, it was nice to have their memories live on beyond the time they would be with us.”

It’s Dora B. Morrow – who’s both in the age range and a member of the choral group – who puts the film’s theme in perspective. She concluded: “If the audience gets something out of it, it can keep me lifted up. I keep this spirit in mind and I am never old. The body may get old but not me. In my heart, I am always young.”

“Young@Heart” choral member Dora Morrow in Chicago on March 27, 2008.
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

“Young@Heart” opened on April 18, 2008.

By PATRICK McDONALD
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com