Young@Heart

Singers on drugs, performers dying a few days before the big show, temperamental arguments with the band's director/manager, covers of artists including Bowie, Coldplay, Hendrix, Clash, Ramones, Dylan, Police, Talking Heads and more.

No, it's not another episode of VH1's Behind the Music. The performers are on drugs legally prescribed to them by their physicians, the deaths occur because the performers are old and infirm and succumb to the diseases slowly killing them and the arguments are because the director is demanding and the performers want to get the songs right.

This 2008 documentary follows a chorus comprised of senior citizens who sing to stay young at heart, and their repertoire is anything but staid. From the opening scream of the nonagenarian who sings lead on The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go (who had died by the time I saw the film) to their visit to a nearby low-security prison where they perform, serenading the inmates with a cover of Dylan's Forever Young among other songs (an incredibly moving scene), this film is a small treasure to be enjoyed and unlike any other film I have seen in a long time.

It is a British film and premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best International Feature. So if you are in the mood for something different, something with highs and lows and some interesting music in its soundtrack to say the least, then put it in your queue.