Strutting around the stage of New York's Beacon Theatre in Shine a Light, Martin Scorsese's documentary highlighting the Rolling Stones' 2006 shows at the relatively intimate venue, Jagger, who turns 65 in July, alternately resembles a hyperactive aerobics instructor and a guy who has had one too many at a karaoke bar.

That doesn't matter, of course, to fans who grew up and have grown older with the Stones. For Jagger and his cohorts, with the possible exception of drummer Charlie Watts, aging gracefully has never been part of the game plan. The band has sustained its living legend by denying age altogether, thus enabling baby boomers to also enjoy eternal youth, at least vicariously.

The genius of Scorsese's film, which is being shown in IMAX in 93 theaters, is that it reveals the Stones' mortality while celebrating all that makes them more than mere mortals. The director cannily sprinkles concert footage with archival clips charting the rock veterans' rise and the unflappable wit and resolve with which they managed it. We see them respond to breathless questions about their ambitions, trials and longevity. Asked by one reporter how much longer he sees himself "doing this thing," a very young Jagger says, with the slightest hint of cheek, "I think we're pretty well set up for at least another year."

But the emphasis is on the Beacon performances, which Scorsese captures with a musician's sense of rhythm and dynamics and an expert eye for emotional detail. The yin and yang of Jagger and Richards' rapport is particularly well illustrated: The frontman milks and devours the crowd's adulation, while Richards seems practically oblivious to it, even when he sings lead.

"I don't think onstage. I feel," Richards insists in one interview, and Shine highlights the visceral, almost sexual thrill musicians experience. There's a moment in the opening number, Jumpin' Jack Flash, when we see Richards' lined face crumple with joy. Later, he, Jagger and fellow guitarist Ron Wood — and guests Buddy Guy, Jack White and Christina Aguilera — cavort like buddies or playful lovers.

Flash is one of several golden oldies featured here, but Shine is ultimately less a nostalgia trip than a survival story. Performing As Tears Go By, Jagger, perhaps looking at the pretty young things strategically planted in the first few rows, sings, "I sit and watch the children play/Doing things I used to do/They think are new."

Few will do them for so long, or inspire such relentless fascination.

Enlarge Paramount Classics Every song they sing: Mick Jagger, left, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts onstage at the Beacon Theatre.

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