How to Live Forever (2011)

57% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
72% of users liked it
(244 ratings)

Director Mark Wexler embarks on a worldwide trek to investigate just what it means to grow old and what it could mean to really live forever. But whose advice should he take? Does 94-year-old exercise guru Jack LaLanne have all the answers, or does Buster, a 103-year-old chain-smoking, beer-drinking… More Director Mark Wexler embarks on a worldwide trek to investigate just what it means to grow old and what it could mean to really live forever. But whose advice should he take? Does 94-year-old exercise guru Jack LaLanne have all the answers, or does Buster, a 103-year-old chain-smoking, beer-drinking marathoner? What about futurist Ray Kurzweil, a laughter yoga expert, or an elder porn star? Wexler explores the viewpoints of delightfully unusual characters alongside those of health, fitness and life extension experts in this engaging new documentary, which challenges our notions of youth and aging with comic poignancy. Begun as a study in life-extension, How To Live Forever evolves into a thoughtprovoking examination of what truly gives life meaning. --(c) Variance

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Mark Wexler
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: May 13, 2011 Limited
Studio: Variance Films

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr, Boston Globe
A cheerfully rambling documentary that's much more thought-provoking than the sum of its parts.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
A hodgepodge of talking-head vignettes including authorities on aging and daft, wrinkly nursing-home residents whose dotage doesn't seem enviable.
Adam Bernstein, Washington Post
A moderately ingratiating, none too probing and largely predictable essay on the way people fear and embrace their senior years.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Wexler gets tired of his own movie near the end of it. The viewer will get tired in 15 minutes.
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
Wexler, whose father is the brilliant cinematographer Haskell Wexler - still filming movies at 89 - wisely focuses on the personalities as well as the anomalies.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
If someone could give you a pill that allowed you to live for 500 years, would you take it?
Chris Faraone, Boston Phoenix
An expert documentary, a responsible yet lighthearted film about the absurd things that folks do in the face of death.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
I don't know "How to Live Forever," but I can say you're better off not wasting the time you have watching the documentary with that title.
Kalvin Henely, Slant Magazine
The doc's presentation of its information-overload is scattershot and prosaic.
Eric Monder, Film Journal International
This documentary on longevity is more jaunty than illuminating.
Sam Adams, AV Club
Wexler breaks the cardinal rule of first-person documentaries: Don't make yourself the subject unless you're worth paying attention to.
Jennifer Merin, About.com
Serving as a portal to personal reflection about aging and death, How To Life Forever is a highly relevant documentary with wide appeal. Read my full review.
Andrew Schenker, Time Out New York
Scenes of nonagenarians dispensing trite nuggets of wisdom are no substitute for an insightful exploration of life, death and everything in between.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
An entertaining and thought-provoking documentary that offers a global examination of longevity, centenarians, and the growing market for anti-aging products.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
We all know life is a crapshoot, but we want to hedge our bets. You could get a few good tips from watching this joyous celebration of the precious seconds we spend on the planet.
Marshall Fine, Hollywood & Fine
Amusing and eye-opening...makes you think, even as it has you chuckling.

Read all 16 critic reviews

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Cast

            Ray Bradbury as Participant

            Phyllis Diller as Participant

            Jack La Lanne as Participant

            Willard Scott as Participant

            Suzanne Somers as Participant

            Edna as Participant

            Marianne Williamson as Participant

            John Robbins as Participant

            Tyrus Wong as Participant

            Takanori Shibata as Participant

            Ray Kurzweil as Participant

            Aubrey de Grey as Participant

            Shigeo Tokuda as Participant

            Gertrude Baines as Participant

            Dolores Bates as Participant

            Brian M. Delaney as Participant

            Mordecai Finley as Participant

            Sebastien Gendry as Participant

            Jonathan Gold as Participant

            Rathyna Gomer as Participant

            Brian Harris as Participant

            Pico Iyer as Participant

            Marge Jetton as Participant

            Tanya Jones as Participant

            Madan Kataria as Participant

            Ronald Klatz as Participant

            Tricia Kurunathan as Participant

            Elaine LaLanne as Participant

            Thomas Lynch as Participant

            Buster Martin as Participant

            Shinei Miyagi as Participant

            Kelly Morton as Participant

            Al Mott as Participant

            Samm Mullins as Participant

            Scott Mullins as Participant

            Zenei Nakamura as Participant

            Sherwin Nuland as Participant

            Ushi Okushima as Participant

            Kikue Okushima as Participant

            Don Parker as Participant

            Randall Roberts as Participant

            Linda Salvin as Participant

            Lisa Schoonerman as Participant

            Diana Schwarzbein as Participant

            Ellsworth Wareham as Participant

            Eleanor Wasson as Participant

            Craig Willcox as Participant

            Heather Yegge as Participant

            Akimitsu Yokoyama as Participant

            Robert Young as Participant
See full cast

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