How to Live Forever

How to Live Forever

can eny one tell me if this is worth watching

source: How to Live Forever

As I approach 25 years of age, I'm becoming more and more aware of my own mortality. I still feel quite young of course, but taking care of myself with the aim of a long, healthy life is now much more a priority than it was in my years of teenage reckless abandon. The realities of aging weigh down on me, the dread of my body turning on me for all I've put it through, the idea that possibilities and opportunities will diminish exponentially. Death has never sat particularly well with me either. I know I'm not alone in all this. But I realize now that this line of thinking is a result of a negative social perception of growing old, and that subscribing to this mindset without some optimistic moderation makes it rather self-fulfilling. The documentary How To Live Forever doesn't provide guidelines to answer its title, but it does provide variable glimpses at lives lived to the fullest and a few suggestions for getting there yourself. It's inspiring and funny and fascinating as filmmaker Mark Wexler confronts his own anxieties about aging and looks into how modern society is not only dealing with it, but trying to slow it down. I never imagined I could make it to 80 with any sort of quality in my life until I saw this film. The end result illustrates how unique and simultaneously universal each one of us is.

"If there was a pill to live for 500 years, would you take it?" The million dollar question asked throughout this film by director Mark Wexler. From Eleanor Wasson, a 100 year old vegetarian that drinks vodka every night, to Buster, a 101 year old beer drinking, marathon runner, what is the true secret to living a longer life and is it fulfilling to do so? In this terrific documentary, the audience is taken on a journey through multiple characters around the world that are quite unique and delightful to watch. Their stories have inspired me to live my life to the fullest and I find it will do the same for you.

From director Mark Wexler I expected funny and entertaining and quirky. "How to Live Forever" is so much more than that. From the very first scene, in which Wexler goes to visit Edna Parker, the oldest living person at 115, we are aware that the dark, devolution of aging will subtend whatever else the film promises to offer on the longevity front. Edna appears beyond this world, her tiny frame wrapped in a gauzy robe and propped in her wheelchair. Her sunken eyes remain expressionless as the cheery nursing home staff loudly announces Wexler's visit. She is unmoved by his friendly display of interest in her. We can't help but feel the discomfort of their disconnect. What is actually happening here? Might it be nothing more than voyeurism? Right when discomfort gets to be the main character, the scene shifts. Over and over the film proceeds this way, cutting from one speaker to another just after we begin to squirm, or laugh, or sink, or cry. You can't just watch "How to Live Forever" because the very topic requires participation. Wexler transparently models our assumptions, defenses, and uncertainties about the unassailable fact of our own demise. We can keep a distance perhaps when he's being gingerly hoisted into a casket by a "body scoop" demonstrated at a Las Vegas morticians' trade show (he's a corpse with a little smile), but his furtive measurement of midriff flab in a fast bathroom scene, or his earnest queries at a San Francisco Brain Gym lend a disarming intimacy to the wealth of attitudes and info the film presents us. Inevitably we are drawn in by the diversity and richness of the film's speakers—each is presented with a ticker counting up his/her age—and their particular cultural and historical contexts. I hope to remember forever the story of Jeanne Calment, the French woman who took up fencing at 85, long before she died at 122, and the film's poster boy, Buster Martin, who at 101 is doing the London marathon, smoking, drinking, and making hit rock band recordings, and especially Eleanor Wasson, my favorite, who at age 100 beautifully articulates her lifelong work for peace in the context of such diverse accomplishments as flying ferry ships in World War II and writing a book entitled "Twenty Eight Thousand Martinis," based on her personal practice of drinking one martini a day. Of course there are lots of luminaries here too, and they each offer a provocative angle—John Robbins, Marianne Williamson, Jack LaLanne (my other favorite), Suzanne Somers, Ray Bradbury—as do people on the street who respond to the question "If there was a pill to live for 500 years, would you take it?" As for the philosophical questions the film raises--Is the quest for longevity just 21st century narcissism? Will nanobots interacting with humans neurologically deliver us to the theater of radical life extension? Will the creation of the ageless society dwarf the age of the computer? to name just a few—"How to Live Forever" is full and fast paced enough to give us a sense of the possibilities, if not the answers. For this reason I suspect I'll be drawn to watch this film many more times. An added pleasure is the soundtrack, which is beautifully matched to the sequences, never overly obvious but always nuanced and compelling. And finally the haunting credit art, by Wexler's mother, Marian, is especially poignant. But you'll have to see the film to find out why.

Director Mark Wexler freaks out about growing older, and decides to fight back. Luckily for us, he takes his camera along for the journey. With characteristic wit and depth, Wexler tackles the complex and prickly subject of aging with a surprising variety of opinions. This gem of a film gives us the cutting-edge science of futurist Ray Kurzweil, the wisdom of author Marianne Williamson, and the genius of science fiction legend Ray Bradbury, alongside more controversial voices like a 101 year old chain-smoking marathoner and an elder * star. Wexler works out with fitness legend Jack LaLanne, contemplates a future on ice at a cryonics lab, laughs with comedienne Phyllis Diller, drinks gallons of green tea, and extracts promises of immortality from life-extension expert Aubrey de Grey, but draws a blank when asked by his friend, writer Pico Iyer, the actual merits of simply wanting more. It is the ultimate question, and one the director sagely leaves to the viewer. After all, as the subtitle warns us, results may vary.

When I went to go see the Film How To Live Forever, I though i would be watching something that dealt with just issue that only elder people face. Being a member of generation X myself I learned through out the course of the film, not to just how to stay healthy, but to know how to be happy in life. As some one just starting my adult life, I thought the film offered valuable insight from a host of people that will help guide me. I loved how the director was able to balance the seriousness of the dialogue with comedic vignettes such as the great Phyllis Diller. The dark horse of the film is Buster, he was the oldest working person in the UK and trained for marathons at the age of 101, but he did this all while drinking and smoking. If there was an award for best supporting person in a documentary it would go to Buster. You can help but fall in love with a man who has lived for so long but yet reminds you of a college student. The countless stories told in the film How To Live Forever are what make this film a gem, stories that before this film was made were only known to a select few. Now this film will share with us the amazing stories of some amazing people.

The movie is about Mark Wexler's search for purpose in a world full of commercialism and trivial meanderings. Here, the human condition is highlighted in interviews with the young and old, famous and humble, happy and melancholic; essentially the fragility of life is matched against our inherit fear of death. Thus, there is a strong sense of urgency in the film's message which dares its audience to get out of their seat and into life. I gave this movie ten out of ten because of its eclectic cast which is dominated by those well into the later stages in life, and despite the inevitable grievances of aging, these characters never roll over, but embrace the opportunities and miracles in every stage of life. http://lat.ms/mBlPmG

When I first heard that it was a documentary about aging I was a little hesitant. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the film A LOT. "How to Live Forever" completely opened up my eyes to something that I never really put much thought into. Mark Wexler did an awesome job with the flow of the film and the interviews that he selected. In the beginning of the film, I thought it would conquer the question on how you can live forever. Wexler took us through a variety of interesting diets, exercises and life styles and traveled all around the world, but there was not a clear answer in the end. Not only was it entertaining to watch with the many fascinating interviewees but it was also educational as well. I found it inspiring to see adults in their 80's and 90's so happy. I'm not as afraid about aging as I was before…especially if I can tap dance like Dolores Bates can at 81 years old.