Women Over 40 Rock!

Guess What, Filmmakers/Distributers? 40+ers Go To Movies Too!
A wonderful documentary film opened last week…YOUNG @ HEART ‘Rock’N'Roll Will Never Die’. It follows a chorus of older singers, in their 70s, 80s and 90s, as they prepare for and give a rock concert, giving us interviews with them individually along the way. I say its wonderful…but actually I have to rely on reviewers for that info, as, even though it was loved by all, it’s only playing at two theatres in the Los Angeles area…one over an hour away from me and one 40 minutes away, so I haven’t had a chance to get to it yet. This when I am within walking distance of 30 movie screens where I live…count them, 30! (Two Cineplexes, or whatever you call them, and a mall.)
“Drillbit Taylor”…mediocre to bad reviews..is playing in several, in fact at 29 screens throughout L.A. (I counted); “Leatherheads” and “Run Fat Boy Run”, again mediocre to bad reviews…playing in several; and “Prom Night”, lampooned by all…on several of my nearby screens.
But YOUNG @ HEART ? “Irrisistable” said the L.A. Times; “Exhilerating - sends you out of the theatre transformed” said Newsweek; “Heartening and poignant - an affirmation of the transformative power of music” said USA Today; “A crowd pleasing sleeper - joyous, wrenching, intimate and hilarious” said ELLE. And last night the Ropert & Ebert tv show critics gave it a giant thumbs up, along with a clip showing an interview with a 92 year old lady telling us what this concert and music have done for her.
Oviously, however, the fact that this movie has gotton tremendous reviews matters not to the powers who pick which films to exhibit…because it’s about, God forbid, OLDER people!! Nor does it matter that older people today (I heard this on the tv news just yesterday) have 92 billion (or did they say trillion?) dollars, or that the baby boomer generation is becoming the largest contengent in America today, or that 50% of all women in the U.S. are 35 or older and control 83% of the purchasing power in America today. They can’t get beyond the “We want 18 year olds” stupidity that is no longer the only way to make moola at the movies!
I cannot believe that I am the only woman over 40 (indeed 60, in my case) who loves movies!!! So guess what, Mr/Ms Movie Exhibitor….you just might make a heck of a lot of money if you started opening your mind to really good films that WE want to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Judith ‘Cant-Wait-To-Rock-With-Young@Heart’ Drake, Blogger for In the Trenches Productions