You've probably heard Carl Reiner's famous joke about his morning routine: "I read the obituaries. If I'm not in them, then I eat breakfast." The subject for this inspiring, touching, wonderful, and rare documentary is to celebrate people in their nineties or beyond who are still actively enjoying life. We see one woman running a race, another teaching yoga, one man digging into a hearty meat sandwich and another's wife preparing a pineapple salad. A large focus is on positive mental outlook and enjoyable friendships, two things many elderly people unfortunately don't have. Too many folks sit in a sea of depression because their family has moved away, and the extent of their conversation with friends is their various ailments and the downsides to getting old. Imagine how wonderful it would be to get together with friends and talk about good times, told jokes, and shared nice memories. When Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, and Norman Lear sit together and chat in front of the camera, they provide a healthy example for friendship in one's sunset years.
Many of the old folks featured are famous, but there are some "nobodys" included so you don't think it's impossible to achieve such a high quality of life when you reach ninety. Kirk Douglas, Stan Lee, Betty White, George Shapiro, Patricia Morrison, and Dick Van Dyke are all prominently featured, and Dick even gets a healthy plug for his fantastic memoir/self-help book Keep Moving. He and his lovely wife Arlene talk about their relationship and sing a sweet duet for the camera. We get to see snippets of Kirk's one-man-show talks, Betty's television work, and Tony Bennett, Dave Grusin, and Alan Bergman open and close the movie with musical performances.
As Iris Apfel mentions, so much of women's advertising is the message "anti-aging", which is so sad. Instead of being told that growing old is horrible and should be avoided at all costs (literally), women should be taught to prioritize their life enjoyment over their looks. What good is it to be beautiful and look twenty years younger than your age if you sit around miserable without any hobbies or motivation to get through the day? We should celebrate women and men who like to exercise, paint, play music, sing, dance, reminisce with their friends, write articles or books, stay busy around the house, go to events, continue working - and that's exactly what this documentary does.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll change your life. The morning after watching this inspirational documentary, I went for a two-mile walk with my mom. Hopefully this new routine will last, but if it doesn't, I'll just watch the movie again - and have a wonderful time!
Many of the old folks featured are famous, but there are some "nobodys" included so you don't think it's impossible to achieve such a high quality of life when you reach ninety. Kirk Douglas, Stan Lee, Betty White, George Shapiro, Patricia Morrison, and Dick Van Dyke are all prominently featured, and Dick even gets a healthy plug for his fantastic memoir/self-help book Keep Moving. He and his lovely wife Arlene talk about their relationship and sing a sweet duet for the camera. We get to see snippets of Kirk's one-man-show talks, Betty's television work, and Tony Bennett, Dave Grusin, and Alan Bergman open and close the movie with musical performances.
As Iris Apfel mentions, so much of women's advertising is the message "anti-aging", which is so sad. Instead of being told that growing old is horrible and should be avoided at all costs (literally), women should be taught to prioritize their life enjoyment over their looks. What good is it to be beautiful and look twenty years younger than your age if you sit around miserable without any hobbies or motivation to get through the day? We should celebrate women and men who like to exercise, paint, play music, sing, dance, reminisce with their friends, write articles or books, stay busy around the house, go to events, continue working - and that's exactly what this documentary does.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll change your life. The morning after watching this inspirational documentary, I went for a two-mile walk with my mom. Hopefully this new routine will last, but if it doesn't, I'll just watch the movie again - and have a wonderful time!