FilmBuff1994
Youth is a poor film with a lousy plot and a terrific cast that deserved far better than this script. The cast is the only thing it really has going for itself if I am being honest, Michael Caine shines, as always in the lead role, he has a great back and forth with Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz, making their poor dialogue a lot more bearable. It tries so hard to make us feel something. There are a lot of scenes that are meant to be hard hitting, dialogue that is supposed to be brutally honest, but it never gives us a real reason to feel for these characters or care for their heartache. They are all unlikeable and I felt no need to want to see them succeed. As well as that, it is tonally all over the place, it jumps from intense drama to gross out comedy, it can never make up its mind on what it wants to be. The film has both an emotional monologue from Caine in which he talks about his love for his daughter and a scene where two old men watch a naked woman slowly enter a hot tub, it also has singer Paloma Faith playing herself in it. All around, pure ridiculous. Ineffective in every way, Youth was not for me and I could not possibly recommend it. A retired composer and his filmmaking friend reflect on their lives and the prospects of aging. Best Performance: Michael Caine / Worst Performance: Paloma Faith
John Doe
Youth is a film that ironically would have been wasted on me when I was younger. My 20 year old self would have hated this film and probably switched it off after 15 minutes. So I can understand the mixed reviews this film gets. There is little or no action until the last 20 minutes, but for me the best parts were the quiet scenes with no action. There are many scenes where something is hinted at or insinuated. But nothing is ever spelled out for you. I was left thinking a lot about what I had just seen, trying to interpret what it meant or what was about to happen when the scene ended. Youth is beautifully shot, so if you're in the mood for a quiet film with gorgeous visuals and a dreamy soundtrack this is perfect. The plot, or more precisely the premise is about a group of people in a very picturesque holiday resort where everything looks heavenly and relaxing. They talk about life and old age etc. It sounds dull but for me those were the best parts. I only felt it lost its way towards the end, specifically at the moment Jane Fonda showed up. Even though she's very good in this (as is everyone else), her first scene is a long drawn out conversation with Harvey Keitel which shifts the mood of the piece completely. For the first time in the film I found myself bored because the scene dragged me out of the dreamlike mood that had gone before. After that the film trudged on to its finale but never recaptured the spirit of the first 90 minutes. But overall I recommend this film because it was unlike anything else I can recall seeing.
Indie Cinema Magazine
The film "Youth" (La giovinezza) by the Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is a reflection of the deep crisis in Italian cinema. After the golden age of Italian cinema in the 1960s the crisis started and became inescapable.Director Sorrentino tells the story of two close friends vacationing in a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps. One is a composer played by Michael Caine another is a filmmaker played by Harvey Keitel. Michael Caine plays his role well as usual and is the only reason why the film is remotely watchable.Otherwise the film is dull, pretentious and lacks any new or interesting ideas. The cinematography was bland and unoriginal. The music was surprisingly awful considering this is a film about a famous and beloved composer.The product placement for Microsoft Kinect was shameless, annoying and resembled a parody. The film had a positive critical response, however it is not a masterpiece, just utterly forgettable.The film is just another imitation of Fellini in the same way as "The Great Beauty" (La grande bellezza) but "The Great Beauty" at least was not so flat out boring and monotonous.It is time for the directors to stop stealing from the great masters and to their find own unique style and to produce new ideas and the film jurors should not encourage plagiarism either."Youth" can only be recommended as a sleeping aid.See more reviews at: http://indie-cinema.com/
sol-
Vacationing in this Swiss Alps with a film director friend, a retired music composer starts to reevaluate his life when asked by a messenger from the Queen of England to orchestrate one of his iconic works once more in this somewhat ironically titled film. Full of dreamy cutaways to the naked bodies of those staying at the same resort, as well as some near surreal nighttime shots, 'Youth' is a stylish film through and through and bits and pieces of the dialogue are pretty good, with an inspiration versus fermentation exchange standing out most. The story at hand is, however, far from encapsulating with the lethargic pacing eliminating any sense of urgency, and then there is the fact that Harvey Keitel's ageing filmmaker character is actually more interesting that Michael Caine's composer, though Paul Dano surprisingly enough trumps them both with a heartfelt turn as a film actor depressed over the fact that has been stereotyped ever since playing a single role in a film that he considers mediocre at best. He has two of the film's best scenes as he unsettles everyone by dressing as Hitler for breakfast one day and as he encounters a young girl who has actually seen one of his lesser known performances. Caine certainly has his own strong scenes (conducting a chorus of cows) but hardly that high an amount for a protagonist. With strong supporting turns from the likes of Rachel Weisz and Paloma Faith, amusingly playing herself, this is a hard film not to recommend, but it is certainly an example of movie that sounds much better on paper.
AD
