Review: "Young@Heart"

When I exited the screening of Young@Heart one month ago, I had wet sleeves and a newfound respect for old people. To say the least.

The documentary--which was annointed a Sundance hit in early 2008--examines the lives and practice regiments of the Young@Heart choir, a profoundly dedicated and enthusiastic group of singers, none of whom are younger than 68. And did I mention that all the songs they perform are choral twists on songs--both hit and obscure--from the pop music lexicon? And that they've shot music videos, made with a smile and expectation-shattering wink, for such lyrically relevant songs as "I Want to Be Sedated"?

The emotional force of Young@Heart comes from the film's many surprises and I mean that in terms of the subjects and the filmmaking choices. Although, initially, the director, Stephen Walker, is a little too amused by his own subject matter--he's actually seen giggling like a schoolboy with one of the saucier female chorus members, so proud of what he's found--he never lets the film drift away from him. There's little to no footage of reminiscing about times long gone; rather the focus stays on the practices that lead up to the climatic show, the big time to come. Every choir member discusses their participation with joy, excitement, and sober judgement that emphasizes how little these people see their twilight years as "twilight years." It's just more fun to be had.

And, like in "The Wire", my favorite characters kept dying. It is, of course, a documentary, so when I say "character," I mean the actual choir members. The deaths are handled with grace and eloquence and a show-must-go-on spirit. (I handled them less well, consistently wiping tears away in my seat, so attached had I become to these singers.)

The show does go on and the performances that the tough-as-nails choir director is able to get out of these seniors are impressive, but still believable enough to be inspiring. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to "Fix You" again without bursting into tears and "Nothing Compares 2 U" will forever be a eulogistic anthem in my mind. When, right after learning about the death of one of their comrades, the choir performs an exhibition show at a prison, it's your heart that will sing.

Kinda Obsessed: Second Week of April

GREEK

When this show came on last year, I expected little more than a cheesy, heightened drama about an fantasy Greek system. I was kind of right...except this show ended up being much more thoughtful and much more insightful than I expected. Told through the eyes of Rusty--a nerd who eagerly jumps into the Greek system--and Casey, his sorority queen sister, it embraced the Greek system without letting it off the hook. And, I have to say, it got a lot of elements spot on. Meanwhile, the ensemble cast is fantastic and the snappy dialogue is no less forced than the pop culture-laced lines. This season, the focus has shifted more onto Cappie (Casey's ex and Rusty's fraternity's president) while the school's administration cracks down on the Greeks. It's sudsy, sure, but it's a lot of fun and the episodes really stand up to multiple viewings.

GOODBYE BLUES BY THE HUSH SOUND

The Hush Sound have been making solid albums for a while; they sound like Nickel Creek's rebellious cousins with the way they trade airy male and female vocals over great piano, guitar, and percussion-driven melodies. "Wine Red" kind of put them on the map last year, but I think their new single, "Honey" should do more than keep them there. It's a take-no-prisoners, soaring love song that lets Greta Salpeter's voice really shine, a voice I wasn't aware she had. And when it's coupled with other great tracks like "Medicine Man" and "Not Your Concern," it's difficult to ignore the scope of their talent.

FRISKY DINGO ON DVD

Yeah, I've sung the praises of this ridiculously hilarious show before, which I still claim is just like Arrested Development except more absurd and only 11 minutes long. On DVD, in which you can power through episodes, its ingenius becomes even more apparent. Only 13 episodes long, it chronicles the first season's antics--you know, when Killface tries to destroy the world using the Anhilatrix? It just recently wrapped its second season (I think--I thought it wrapped in October and then they shot off four more episodes in March so who knows?) which added some fantastic political undertones, specifically about the election. But it's still a show where 9 out of 10 jokes are inside references and for a loyal viewer, like me, the payoff is convulsive laughter.

Review: "My Blueberry Nights"

Norah Jones' problem is that she looks like a movie star. It's very easy to see why famed Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, in his first English language film, would want to frame Jones' face at the center of his darkly-lit, neon-accented shots: with her hair hanging down and her lips pursed, she looks like a screen siren that could have been a Hitchcock femme fatale. Unfortunately, there's nothing in the eyes.

As smooth and longing as her voice can be, her face exhibits almost no emotion throughout the entirity of My Blueberry Nights, but it does little to harm the film, which is essentially three short films with a barely-there throughline. Jones and Jude Law--exhibiting a wisened charm and maturity--flirt somberly in a New York cafe until she takes jumps, somewhat inexplicably, into a cross-country road trip. The strangers she meets are consistently fascinating. David Strathairn as a drunkard cop, Rachel Weisz as his put-upon ex-wife, and Natalie Portman as a high-stakes gambler all do some of the best work they've ever done. But it all amounts to...prettiness.

Blueberry is sweet and even, in moments, touching. And despite having essentially no story, it's never boring. But you also wish that Jones would just let go or that Wong Kar Wai would tell her to.