Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Steineded How sad is this?

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Ed-Shullivan I enjoy documentaries for what they are intended to do. A good documentary will detail a specific story line and usually avoid providing any particular biased point of view. Kudos to Mark Wexler, writer, producer, director and the main star of "How To Live Forever". Not only did he shy away from providing a specific point of view but he also coined the films sub title as "Results May Vary". This is very true based on the various real life experiences of the people that Mark interviews from around the world and how they explain their longevity which varies by many different life styles and countries.Some do not eat red meat, some drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes daily, and others just tend to live a happy life and not worry about their health at all. Other than Jack LaLanne's power juicer promotion which good old Jack promoted for half a century, and Susanne Somers extensive use of a various array of hormonal stimulants and vitamins, I did not feel Mark was plugging any particular line of products which would have driven me nuts, so thanks Mark for keeping your documentary real.Phyllis Diller was entertaining, as were some of the people being interviewed such as Britain's Buster Martin who was a 104-year-old beer drinking and chain-smoking marathon runner. Buster cleaned vans for a living which he did right up to his last day. On April 12, 2011, Buster finished work, went to the pub for his regular pint of beer and then went home and died at the young age of 104.I thought maybe the film would dig in to some of the centenarians family background and gene pool but it did not. To digress for just a minute, there was a PBS documentary titled the Italian Americans, based on an Italian neighborhood pocket in Roseto Pennsylvania that I thought Mark may have discussed that details the Roseto effect. In 1912 Roseto became the first 100% Italian borough in the USA. A scientific study was done in the 1960's by Dr. Stewart Wolf that identified the entire towns people of Roseto had a substantially longer life span, suffered no heart attacks, was not attributed to diet, and died simply from old age. The study concluded that it was the strong family support circle of the entire Italian neighborhood that provided the people who lived in Roseto Pennsylvania with a serene, stable, calming and loving life of their family and friends from birth through their eventual death from old age.The message I took away from this documentary was to eat and drink in moderation, maintain a positive attitude, don't get too worked up about what MAY happen, and make sure you take time to smell the coffee, enjoy friends, exercise regularly and most especially laugh.I think the next film I will watch will be the John Candy/Steve Martin film Planes, Trains and Automobiles which is one of my all time favorite comedy films that will be sure to make me laugh regardless of how many times I watch it.I give How To Live Forever a strong 7 out of 10 rating. Well done Mark Wexler!

Lynda Marin 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.

courtesyflushblush 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

brockwright89 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.