Jugend ohne Jugend

I was flabbergasted to see that a lot of the comments for this film were negative. The fact that the movie is not of a commercial nature doesn't make it bad, it just makes it less accessible. In this manner, it is just as bad for movies as a science paper is for publications.

Anyway, the film is based on a book of Romanian Mircea Eliade, one that I didn't read. Actually, I didn't read most of Eliade's work for the very reasons people bad mouthed this film. Then I entered adolescence :-P.

The film, though, is a resounding success to me. Not only that it is well done, but at the end of it, it let me wanting to understand more and to read the book. Maybe I will one of these days. As the film is impossible to summarize here, I will get to a quick conclusion.

Bottom line: a heavy feeling film, with a complex script and a lot of philosophical ideas of Eliade's scattered through the story; also some of his personal obsessions: orientalism and the loss of the love of his life. I personally think it was a great movie, but it became a bit confused at the end.

First of all, i want to express my disgust for people who bash the movie because they didn't enjoy it, or didn't "get it". I accept other people's opinions, it is a free world (most of it anyway), but please stick to just stating your opinion, don't try to change how other people feel about it.

So, in my opinion, first and foremost, if you expect a movie that has drama or action that keeps you glued to your seat, this isn't for you. The plot of the movie has nothing to do with sci-fi, war time action or drama. It is a deeply philosophical movie that appeals to the reality matrix of people, trying to immerse you into some kind of a trance, where you begin to think like the author of the book, and the main character. If you are open minded enough, or a more than average philosophical person, this movie will be quite an experience for you. I know that for me, it was.

I liked it a lot mainly because of the dream/monologue scenes, because they somehow capture the essence of human thought. The doubt, the inner contradictions, the good and the bad sides of the same person. Things that most or all of us do, maybe not in a such out-of-body experience, but it does happen.

I don't want to give to much away, because half of the movie's effect on you has to do with the fact that it catches you off-guard.

Francis Coppola's last mainstream Hollywood film was The Rainmaker and before that it was the critically maligned Jack. Since then the legend of cinema has walked away from being a director for hire. I guess he is still smarting from the failure of his Zoetrope Studios.

In Youth without Youth Coppola turns to European art cinema and not for the first time. His black and white Rumble Fish was heavily influenced by the German Expressionist style.

Tim Roth plays Dominic a 70 year old man in Pre World War 2 Romania, who is struck by lightning and is rejuvenated astounding his doctor (Bruno Ganz).

Dominic is 30 years younger with a regenerated body, he even grows new teeth, he undergoes various tests put to him by his doctors. However it is not only the physical body that has improved, also his mental faculties have gone through a quantum leap. This also arouses the interests of the Nazis once the war erupts.

Of course Dominic hides that he has an alter ego that converses with him and seems to have enhanced powers himself. Also whereas the older Dominic was striving to finish his life's work in the origins of linguistics, now he has the time to research and write further. He speaks many Oriental languages now he can read by just looking at a book.

As the war rages on Dominic escapes to Switzerland to continues his research. In the 1950s, a meeting with a woman called Veronica who reminds him of Laura, a lost love turns the film further on its head. Veronica transmigrates to another soul back in time such as an early disciple of Buddha in ancient India. She keeps going back further in time speaking in ancient languages enabling Dominic to get very near to the first spoken text but at the risk of losing Veronica for good.

The film is a mixture of vision and story. It could easily be something that could had been made by that other American filmmakers Terrence Malick or David Lynch. The film sets its stall out with the European Art-house cinema style, it is not a literal movie as the film feels dreamlike. You do wonder if this is all a dream of Dominic after being struck by lightning.

The film is little known but I was surprised by how accessible it was and how much I enjoyed the film. Coppola has never been afraid to experiment and at times he has misfired badly. Even here some of the scenes set in India does not convince as they are too modern with modern cars driving past. There is even a shot of The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai that crops up in scenes set in Uttar Pradesh.

However this is an intriguing, experimental even a slightly unnerving film. Roth should be given plaudits for drawing the viewer in and keeping them invested in his character.

Youth without Youth shows the world that Coppola is still a master filmmaker.

I was surprised and fortunate to find a movie of this caliber by chance, since I'd never heard of the release; at first, I actually thought it was an old movie, one that I hadn't seen.

I' am bewildered and frankly frightened by the obscene IMDb rating of "6.6" - the current evaluation of this movie, by the audiences frequenting these boards - a prime example of the fact that taste is a controversial matter.

Albeit, this movie isn't for everyone; if you regard the world as being a solved puzzle, if you've figured it all out; what it's all about, if nothing mystifies or captivates your senses and entelechy, if you are utterly unenchanted by the magical and mysterious nature of reality, this movie will be a huge disappointment for you. Please don't watch it, since it's not made for you, and hence, you will distort the perception of the movie. In-fact, if any of the latter apply, don't watch this movie, it will only bring grieve.

The movie is stunning in its appearance, the characters are believable, the story is uncompromising, relentless, of an epic nature, and the atmosphere is hypnotic and enchanting.

I was sucked into the world of this strange professor.

I only regard the ending as being less then perfect; however, such movies are never easy to end.

An essential and unique experience.

I saw mention of "Altered States" in the comments section, but I think a more apt parallel might be "The Fountain" by Aronofsky. In that film, an intellectual pursuit is pitted in juxtaposition to the more human pursuit of love. In "The Fountain" science is the pursuit and it is employed towards the end of salvaging a relationship, whereas with Coppola the pursuit is philosophy and its pursuit decidedly comes first symbolically and then physically at the unraveling of love.

So, yes this is a cerebral film. One that is driven often by dialog, including dialog conducted between a man and his double...and also in a language of the protagonists own creation. And yet the message here, while convoluted never came across as mere gibberish to me.

Instead, I hear the echoes of an old man, Coppola, who perhaps has seen his own life, and maybe lives of those around him, consumed by his own calling. And with the double, what film maker cannot feel the presence of a vying reality. Here we have mirrors, like Coppola's "Rumble Fish" shadows, that do not match the reality they should reflect.

I felt like the lightning strike could be seen as a character's epiphany that he is indeed a character in a story. More fifth dimension than fourth wall. But nonetheless fascinating. A superhero of sorts is born, but not exactly a Marvel.

Back to Aronofky's "Fountain" that film for me got bogged down in the trompe du CG-eye, whereas in "Youth Without Youth" whoever did the scenery scouting should be applauded. I felt more grounded in the real, yet often captivating, world filmed. (Was Malta, Malta or just another aspect of Romania?) Too bad I didn't feel the same way about casting, although others here have lauded Roth and Ganz, they were weaker links for me in their particular roles. Clearly Roth's role/s was/were demanding, for me he has the nervous energy of someone looking over his shoulder, more than a man lost in an inward gaze. A better maniac than a monomaniac. And Ganz, it felt like all of his lines were re-dubbed, to the point of a CGI-level distraction.

Nonetheless, a film with tricky mirrors provides some interesting reflection. Ultimately the film neither flaunts love as the salvation, nor rigorous study as providing an ultimate reward. For me the message was not even mystical, but simply that nature will claim every man.

Sure as the snow...