Wrinkle Queens Rejoice! Old People Are Lighting Up the Big Screen!

Posted by Michael Musto at 9:00 AM, April 3, 2008

While Hollywood gets more and more frantic in its search for Linoleum-like foreheads and other signs of eternal youth, documentary films are going in the opposite direction. They're obsessed with folks with one foot in the grave! And in celebrating their survival, their spirit, and the fact that one foot is still out on the pavement and working it. No less than three documentaries for gerontophiles are among us—and that's way more than enough for a New York Times trend piece (or a La Daily Musto blog item). First of all, Hats Off centers on 93-year-old actress and model Mimi Weddell and her indomitable style as she carries on and on. Coming up, Young@Heart deals with a bunch of 90-something retirees who sing in perfect harmony in between doctors' appointments. And also imminent, Surfwise is the story of legendary surfer "Doc" Paskowitz who may hang 10, but he IS 85. Some of these films might feel like extended versions of NY 1's "New Yorker of the Week" segment, but it's hard to knock anything that doesn't kick sand at old folks.

In a whole other entertainment trend, Madonna's "4 Minutes" song seems to have really started something. Opening any minute now is a prison-drama film of the very same name and there's also an Al Pacino flick coming out called 88 Minutes. I give this trend, I don't know, 15 minutes.