The gentle melancholy that permeates this documentary about a 90-year-old Welsh man stoically planning the end of his days is balanced quite perfectly by the beautiful voices of the male voice choir he is a member of. Surrounded by fellow ageing singers this engagingly oddball band of brothers keep him going and also offer an invaluable sense of family.
To some extent, Dylan Williams’ film tries hard to cover many bases…whether it be his own story of a son who escaped a small seaside Welsh town to live overseas now returning to bond with his father; or the story of the choir, with an average age of 74, competing for the first time in years, or the engaging search for young male singers in an attempt to keep the choir alive.
But that warm-hearted lack of razor-sharp focus actually works in the doc’s favour and makes Men Who Sing a much more compassionate and personal film. It is also just the type of film that feels ripe for a drama remake – you can start to mentally cast the cream of veteran British actors right away!
Williams scene-sets his film perfectly right from the start. Shots of the faded beauty of the North East Wales seaside town of Rhyl preface a voiceover that describes the routine of his 90 year-old father Ed who aims to look after his house in the same manner his late wife did. Change the sheets on Thursday; hoover top to bottom on Saturday; polish the tea pot collection on Sundays, and then on Tuesday – his favourite – prepare a bacon sandwich.
But it is when his father calls him in Sweden to tell him that he is selling the family home and is planning his own funeral (“I have to do it while I can” he tells his son) that Dylan decides to head home for a while. The film follows his father as he spends time with his beloved Trelawnyd Choir, where the weekly practice offers solace and friendship.
The choir, though, is facing a crisis of its own. They must act fast or face extinction, and the hunt begins to find “brown haired men” in their 40s and 50s to keep the choir going. As their search intensifies, the group of genial characters grows closer. Ed finds new meaning in his life, while Merf deals with his own bad news by focusing on the choir’s revival, and Gwyn laughs in the face of a prostate cancer diagnosis, even walking the wing of a plane to raise money for charity.
Choir leader Ann keeps her elderly choristers in line, but is also aware of the need for new(ish) blood to keep things fresh. And while Ed, Merf, Gwyn and others busily print up leaflets to hand out to any appropriate male of the right age, Ann also decides it is time for the choir to compete for the first time in decades. The last third of the film follows the choir as they recruit a few new members, start intense rehearsals and eventually head off to Northern Ireland to sing competitively.
The gentle humour that bonds the choir helps keep the lingering sense of melancholy at bay. They are aware they have sung more at funerals for former choristers than at events, but their kinship – in a similar way to their voices – provides strength when all are linked together. Ed moves to his new house, and adjusts to a new life further away from the rehearsal hall…but as Dylan Williams says: “It is a new road…but the rest is still the same.”
UK, 2021, 77mins
Dir Dylan Williams
Production S4C, Ffilm Cymru Wales, BFI Doc Society Fund
Producers Euros Wyn, Llion Iwan, Dylan Williams
Cinematography Ed Edwards
Editors Ben Stark, Magnus Svensson, Dylan Williams
Music Scott Shields
With Cor Meribion Trelawynd
