Don Argott's 2005 crowd-pleaser Rock
School illustrated
how tough, unsentimental documentary filmmaking can undercut the sentimentality
of even the most oppressively adorable subject. School explored the career of Rock School
proprietor Paul Green, a mercurial, foul-mouthed teacher whose life goal entails
bringing the rock to adorable tots and sulky teens. Young@Heart explores a similarly crowd-pleasing
story from somewhere at the opposite end of the age spectrum—it tells the
story of Bob Cilman, an iconoclastic teacher brave or foolish enough to teach a
chorus of senior citizens songs from artists like The Clash. But any hope that
Walker will steer clear of sap vanishes when he guilelessly gushes early on
that documenting the choir was like picking up dozens of new grandparents.
Walker undoubtedly means well, and his affection for his subjects is palpable.
But the "Aren't these geezers adorable?" approach ends up diminishing his
subjects rather than honoring them.
