I have to say I love how this movie doesn't beat you over the head with an opinion one way or the other. We get to look into a world of cryogenics, active seniors, even hormone replacement therapies, but we aren't told what the best way is. Only that these options are out there. At first I was really expecting a even more longevity secrets, but the movie slowly transitions into a focus more on characters and quality of life.

While these ideas and technologies are interesting, the interviewees really make the movie. Seeing them live out fulfilling lives into their 90's and beyond was really inspiring. Honestly I think Mark Wexler's decision (leaving it up to us to decide what we think about longevity and really the meaning of life) was correct, I wouldn't have enjoyed an ending that promoted a certain ideal way of life.

Early in Mark Wexler's documentary, How To Live Forever, he shows us a crude drawing of a roller-coaster that has the many stages of life on it. It goes "Diapers, Disneyland, rock and roll, masturbation, sex, marriage, career, colonoscopy, retirement, seafood buffet, "ow, my back," drool, confusion, and diapers." He states he used to look on at the roller-coaster and laugh, but sadly, life itself has caught up with him, and day by day he finds these simple statements becoming more and more true to life.

Wexler is 52, the son of famed cinematographer Haskell, appears to be physically fit, packs in enough knowledge and interest in the subject of a long life and mortality to make a very compelling documentary on the issue, and sets out to interview numerous elderly Television icons and centenarians all across the world. Throughout his journey, we are great with effervescent souls of all ages, one of them being the oldest living human, at 115. We get an inside long at the "Ms. Senior America" pageant where to be eligible to compete, you have to be sixty or older. We get interviews with Suzanne Sommers (who states the seven dwarfs of meta-pause are itchy, bitchy, sleepy, sweaty, bloated, forgetful, and all-dried-up),Ray Bradbury, and fitness guru Jack LaLanne who, even in his later years, is quick, spunky, and intelligently astute.

One of the film's highest points is when we are taught the surprising lifestyle of the Okinawan people. It is not surprising if they hit the age of 100, because they have a nutrient filled diet, they are active because it's the right thing to do, not because they want to lose weight, and have very little stress because of calming activities, such as gardening, fishing, and dancing. One of them is animator Tyrus Wong, who flies kites of beauty and complexity and dives in with a net, underwater, in an attempt to catch fish. He is 98 years old, by the way. He's a loner, but so graceful, cheery, and calm that it is almost as if life never got the best of him.

Then of course, we encounter the mascot of the film; Buster Martin, a 101 year old chain-smoking, beer drinking Brit, who claims to never drink tea, water, or anything other than a mug of the good stuff. He is an avid marathon runner, whose training program consists of five beers and five cigarettes, and hastily tells Wexler "I ain't like you normal people." In April of 2011, Martin died at the alleged age of 104.

One of the last people we meet is 100 year old Elanor Wasson, who speaks with such gratitude and knowledge it truly is remarkable. An outspoken Atheist, Wasson believes the Earth revolves around karmic revenge, the law of love, and freewill and free-choice. "God didn't let it happen. We let it happen by making bad choices." I couldn't agree more.

How To Live Forever is a wholly entertaining documentary, looking at many fields of the subject of mortality such as anti-aging medicines, the subject of living past 100 (at one point, humans were only expected to live to be around 23),certain life-changing dietary efforts, and a plethora of charismatic people who have beaten the odds, many of them providing piercingly accurate insight and intelligence about the world around us.

NOTE: The film was released theatrically in 2009, and has just been released to DVD in 2012. During these three years, it has come to my attention that Ray Bradbury, Buster Martin, Eleanor Wasson, and Jack LaLanne have all passed away. It's almost as if they were featured in the film to give their opinions on their age and the appointed issues, and then passed away.

Starring: Mark Wexler, Buster Martin, Jack LaLanne, Eleanor Wasson, Ray Bradbury, John Robbins, Tyrus Wong, and Suzanne Sommers. Directed by: Mark Wexler.

If only this documentary could really tell you how to do it or even come close. Director, writer and producer Mark S. Wexler who has also been a successful photojournalist as well as a documentary maker is the son of an award winning cinema photographer. He has used his own funds to make this film, which basically looks at old people and tries to explain what is their secret to a long life. He doesn't really come up with an answer other than maybe they have a passion for living and don't worry very much about dying. Perhaps the film could have used a better focus and a stronger point of view. We also found it very interesting that in all the interviews, the role of family never came up in the questions or in the discussion, nor were any children or grandchildren ever shown. There were certainly some unforgettable characters such as the 114 year old women from Indiana who was the oldest person in the world at that moment, the Senior Beauty Pageant and the effervescent Ms. Arkansas who was competing for the national crown, the funeral directors conference in Las Vegas where the latest marketing ploys reflected the attitudes of the baby boomers about their mortality, the 93 year old guy in Oklahoma who would regularly eat a diet which is the antitheses of a healthy diet and a clip of Wexler with the unforgettable Jack LaLane who actually died this year at age of 96. The subtitle of this movie is "Results May Vary" and this probably sums up how we think most people will react to this film. (2011)