Alive Inside

Music here seems to have a miraculous power to lift up, to awaken, to reinvigorate.

Equal parts heart-wrenching and heart-lifting ...

I would have preferred a documentary that did more presenting and less pushing. But...the music's vivifying effect on old souls made for some of the most moving scenes I've seen all year.

The movie effectively bullies you into feeling good; with its hard sell and superfluous CG imagery, it might as well be a superhero movie.

The movie is at its best when documenting the reactions of various patients, which in some cases is nearly miraculous.

Alive Inside is a small but vibrant miracle. The documentary finds hope and joy in one of our nation's bleakest settings, nursing homes.

Alive Inside is a worthwhile reminder that life is a beautiful thing, and that something as simple as music can unlock the life within our most isolated peers.

(Director Michael) Rossato-Bennett and (subject Dan) Cohen struck me at times as being perhaps a little too self-congratulatory, yet the significance of this beautifully-composed documentary and the breakthroughs it depicts can't be denied.

"We are made to age," filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett says about halfway through "Alive Inside," which may be the most radical statement you'll hear in a movie theater all year.

The iPods of Youth

"Alive Inside" contains a tiny revolution within its message, and will likely end up being one of the most important documentaries of the year.

Whle it an be faulted for its shortcomings as a film and even as an argument, it's welcome for providing a glimpse of what amounts to an alternative treatment for the ever-growing number of Americans suffering from dementia.