THE STORY – While visionary scientists race to extend human lifespan, an 87-year-old widower’s bond with his rescue dog demonstrates the stakes of life extension.
THE CAST – Celine Halioua, George Betke, Cynthia Kenyon & Laura Deming
THE TEAM – Greg Kohs (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 84 Minutes
Like death, aging is a fate we all face, yet it’s a subject difficult to raise and discuss. But we see it in our parents’ eyes every time we go home. Or for some of us, we can at times see it in ourselves. (I know it takes me just a little bit longer to get up off the couch these days.) The scientists at the center of director Greg Kohs’ new documentary, “The A-Word: The Future of Aging,” know it well, and they are convinced they can do something about it.
Kohs, best known for his 2008 documentary “Song Sung Blue” (from which the 2025 film was dramatized), focuses his film on three scientists who believe that longevity research should center less on developing longer human lives and more on making those lives healthier through genetic study. A pioneer in her field, longevity expert Cynthia Kenyon made a breakthrough discovery in 1993 that changing a single gene could double the lifespan of healthy roundworms. To this day, she continues her exploration of whether the rate of aging in humans can be altered through genetic manipulation. Her work came to the attention of scientific prodigy Laura Deming, who, after entering MIT at age 14, became fascinated by Kenyon’s breakthroughs. So at age 17, she founded the Longevity Fund. This venture capital firm has raised tens of millions of dollars dedicated specifically to life extension and health-span development.
Deming’s work particularly inspired Celine Halioua to become the founder of Loyal, a clinical-stage animal health company developing the first longevity drugs for dogs. Convinced that the genetic research that has helped her longevity medication for dogs could someday be applied to humans as well, Halioua submits an application for approval of the drug to the FDA, an approval that would be unprecedented. Her effort to secure that FDA green light forms the narrative arc of the first track of Kohs’ film.
The film’s second track also involves dogs — in this case, Monica, the canine companion of 87-year-old George Betke, a retired railroad executive who, with his wife Mary Anne, retired to a small coastal town in Maine. Mary Anne selected Monica herself, as the dog reminded her of her pet when she was growing up. After Mary Anne died in 2022, Monica became George’s best friend, providing the companionship (and exercise) that has helped keep the octogenarian alive and healthy, the very goal of the longevity scientists’ research.
Kohs takes the time to help us get to know the three scientists and their personal motivations for the work they are committed to. That personal connection allows us to stay on their wavelength, even when they get into the weeds a bit with explanations of their scientific approach. Kohs, however, also fills the screen with an array of other talking heads, whether they are fellow scientists & researchers or are George’s small-town neighbors, with a continual commentary that offers diminishing returns over the course of the film.
The one sequence in the film that truly lands is the moment when George realizes that Monica’s kidney disease has been making the dog’s life miserable. Like the painful choice faced by so many pet owners in similar situations, he makes the difficult decision to put Monica to sleep, and as he says his goodbyes, Monica dies in his arms. It’s a devastating moment that underscores just how important the research being done is to extending healthy lives for both dogs and humans.
While it’s laudable that Kohs can shine a bright light on the worthy work being conducted by the scientists in this arena, the plethora of talking heads included, presumably to bolster the importance of their work, begin to feel like padding added to bring the 84-minute runtime to feature length. (Indeed, pared down to its essence, “The A-Word” might have become much more effective as a short.) Still, I wouldn’t want to lose a single moment of George and little Monica, who, together, become the beating heart and soul of “The A-Word.”
