Monday, December 7, 2009

Now don't get yourselves nervous and start taking off your pants now


Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

Ya know I have a weird relationship with documentaries. They tend to either be big hits (or at least pretty good), or mediocre and uninteresting. There never seems to be a middle ground. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I wont watch a documentary if the subject doesn't interest me. But then again I also took a college course on the history and effect of documentaries and discovered some good documentaries that I thought I would never see. Then there was this movie...

I always wanted to watch this one. The idea of a chorus of old people 70-94 singing pop/punk/rock/R&B songs was pretty awesome. Sure most of them couldn't sing worth a darn but it was not the fact they were good singers that got people interested. No instead it was that they were having fun, living life to the fullest, and honestly it was really funny/touching. The reason I NEVER saw this until recently though was because of my grandma. The last movie I saw with her was The Bucket List and this was one of the previews. She was really interested in seeing it and honestly some of the people in the chorus reminded me of her. But I finally sat down and watched it and honestly...its one of the best documentaries ever made. I dont just mean that in a technical sense. The camera work, editing and visuals are all pretty standard documentary fare but are clean, well done and interesting. I think what I like most is the story.

Started in the 1980s, a chorus group consisting of only senior citizens was created and devoted to singing popular music or music you wouldn't expect to be hearing. Anything from the Talking Heads to James Brown to Sonic Youth were all in the fray. This film is one filmmaker (who is also a huge fan) and his crew following around the group during a seven week period before they start touring again. It all leads up to a show that brings the roof down.

Its surprising at first. You honestly don't know whether to cringe or laugh. But as the story goes on you get attached to these characters, laugh with them, cry with them and enjoy every minute with them. Even though they can't sing, they're trying and its both fun and heartwarming at the same time.

It might put some people off but honestly you owe it to yourselves to watch this one. Even if you don't like documentaries this is a good one to watch with the whole family and really is quite touching.

I really reccomend seeing this one.

MY VERDICT: OWN IT

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