The Oscars are a great way for casual films buffs like me to hear about small indie and foreign films that don’t get a lot of publicity.  This week, one such film is playing at the Edina Theater.  It’s a film from Belgium called “The Over The Hill Band”.  It’s the story of a recently-widowed woman named Claire, aged 70, who has two sons.  The elder son, Miche, is the down-to-earth stalwart with a good job and a family.  The younger son, 40 year-old Sid, is the dreamer who has never held a steady job and aspires to be a pop musician.  He’s been living far away from home, but returns for their father’s funeral.  The family arguments return and the three part ways with all of their old wounds suitably renewed.

However, left to face her new life alone, Claire reaches out to her younger son.  She visits him for the first time, and asks to hear some of his music.  As you’d expect, Sid’s hard-core blend of rap and R&B isn’t really Claire’s cup of tea.  She and two friends used to have a girl group back in the day called “The Sisters of Love”.  But Claire’s affection for Sid and her desire to help him find his way through life inspires her to suggest that she get the girls back together and merge with Sid’s small band.  And so they create “The Over The Hill Band”.

Hearing these spry ladies speaking in Flemish, but singing in English certainly evokes the spirit of ABBA, and the story had me thinking of “Mama Mia” with Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, and this year’s Best Actor winner Colin Firth.  The film has some good notices, including being an Official Selection into the Palm Springs Film Festival.  It’s struck me more than once how the teens of today share more musical roots with their parents than any time in the past 150 years, and this film brings that fact home.  Claire’s declaration that inside she still feels 17 years old struck a very familiar chord with me.  “The Over The Hill Band” is a touching story of how the Rock and Roll generation deals with aging in the modern world.   The film runs March 4^th through the 9^th at the Edina Theater near 50^th and France in Edina.  There’s plenty of free parking in the area, and great restaurants close by, so it’s a great Twin Cities Staycation.  See the Edina Theater Website for tickets and showtimes.