Juventude

When it comes to Paolo Sorrentino I don't know what to expect. On one hand I loved his first English work "This Must Be The Place" starring a wonderful Sean Penn; on the other hand I didn't quite enjoy his Oscar Winner "The Great Beauty". I was actually afraid this one was going to be another attempt at being Fellini. But Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano and Rachel Weisz gave me the push to watch it. I'm glad I didn't wait, because this is Sorrentino's greatest beauty.

Youth is a brilliant, intense, philosophical, and moving film about life and death, youth and oldness, loneliness and friendship.

As I watched the film I thought the title was deceiving. I thought it was only about being old, and I couldn't find the real meaning of it. But as I'm writing this, has passed almost a week since I saw it, and I've got enough time to think about it. Now, I do realize it is about the importance of youth, because it praises old age as that moment in life when you think about your past.

Masterfully directed and written by Paolo Sorrentino, the film is enhanced by a deep, witty, and provocative dialogue, a wonderful and breathtaking photography by Luca Bigazzi, spectacular scenography, and sublime music.

The acting is first class. Michael Caine shines in the leading role, delivering an intense performance as Fred Ballinger. The supporting cast does a wonderful job as well. Old, but young inside Harvey Keitel, and young, but old inside Paul Dano are perfect in portraying the contrast between youth and oldness. Rachel Weisz delivers another great performance. Jane Fonda's cameo is great too. The one that surprised me the most is Luna Zimic Mijovic, who plays the masseuse.

Read more at afilmadaybysonia.blogspot.com

What a Beautiful Film, i Think it's too late to say This one it's a must See, Don't Mind The Negative Reviews.

If there ever was a trailer that could not sell his movie right, then it is the one for ''Youth'' by acclaimed director Paolo Sorrentino, who's previous film was the Oscar-winning ''The Great Beauty''. The trailer made it look like a generic feel-good comedy, but it turned out to be a heart-warming, emotional and beautiful film.

The story takes place in a resort hotel in the Alps, where a retired conductor (Michael Caine) and his friend, a film director (Harvey Keitel) who writes the screenplay for his ''Testament'', are on holiday. Both are confronted with their past, future and momentariness.

Both actors have a great supporting cast on their side, everyone with their own burdens: Rachel Weisz plays Caine's daughter who is also his assistant, who feels neglected by her father and, in an great emotional monologue, expresses her feelings towards him. Paul Dano plays a character actor who is only known for a single insignificant role and wants to be recognized as a versatile actor. Jane Fonda plays a Diva who was a regular collaborator with Keitel's character and also has a great dialogue scene with him. Other characters are a retired Maradonaesque football player and a masseuse who touches than talks and many other great characters.

It would seem that all these ''damaged'' characters would give this film an overly sentimental tone, but drama and humor is so well balanced that the shift between comedy (and there is a lot of it) and drama never seems abrupt and doesn't interrupt the pacing of the film.

From the first minute on one will clearly see what Sorrentinos strength as a director is: Extremely beautiful visuals. Whether it is just the landscape or the daily routine of the people within the hotel: Every frame is just beautifully composed and looks astonishing. Rarely can a film with a run time of 2 hours constantly produce one great looking shot after the other. In combination with the great score by David Lang, ''Youth'' creates a unique and relaxing atmosphere that will ensure a great time at the theater.

As great as this movie may sound so far, it unfortunately is not flawless. As funny and great the dialogue is, at times it ruins the film completely with how unsubtle some of the important character moments are. In one scene, Caine and Dano are in a store and a little girl approaches Dano. She tells him that she knows him from a movie. He immediately assumes that she is referring to his robot role, but then she talks about a little known drama and tells him how it affected her life and instantly after her dialogue is finished she runs away with the camera facing Danos reaction so everybody in the audience knows that it was an important scene for his character. Another examples would be ham fisted lines like: ''What awaits me outside?'' -''Youth'' or the scene with the binocular from the trailer. The problem with these scenes is not that they are bad, on the contrary, they are important for the films' themes and characters. The problem is that they feel disconnected from the narrative and do not feel like they fit naturally within the plot.

Reviewers Notes, humbly submitted:

1. One of those must-see films that contains images, performances, set pieces and snippets of dialog that will haunt you long after you have left the theatre. My favorite is a throwaway line by Harvey Keitel's character casually explaining why for 60 years he has been gullible in his relationship with Caine's character: "I invent stories ... I have to believe everything in order to make things up." (Keitel) That is what reviewers like to call dialog within dialog.

2. Caine is superb, but then again he is always superb.

3. This is an affectation that this reviewer wants to add: since Sorrentino is very direct about wanting this film to be about age, the experience would be enhanced if you watch 1966's Alfie before seeing Youth. To see Caine (at the time) portraying one of the sexiest men alive will take you to a new level of appreciation for what age is about.

4. Some of the images, clearly surreal, could well set the standard for the medium for years to come. They are not only extraordinary but plentiful. Contrast these for example to TV's American Horror Story which pretends to be leading edge in this regard but in fact is merely recycling stuff from 1970s horror films. This is the real deal.

5. Weisz comes full circle. She started her career doing serious roles in indies, temporarily became a saucy sex goddess, and is now a serious actress once again.

6. Only criticism is a problem I have noticed with other films by strong directors like Woody Allen -- the director, doing double duty as the writer, is virtually God in this production and subconsciously the viewer understands that he or she may as well be watching a film made on Mars, because the energy and the characters are so far removed from reality.

As a younger man, I probably wouldn't have cared much for this movie, because as a younger man, I wasn't preoccupied with getting older, and the consequences of reaching the September of my life.

However, as a musician, photographer, and a baby boomer, I absolutely loved it. I would have given it 10 stars except for a poorly written character trait implied in Michael Cain's "Fred Ballinger" to appeal to the gay community for God knows what reason. It doesn't fit into the character's personality or lifestyle at all, and so it made no sense and was purely gratuitous.

Aside from that issue, and the fact that the movie begins with a female singer (Maria Letizia Gorga) who is so talent-less, I have to mute the remote until she is finished, I found this movie to be a "masterpiece", combining sights, sounds and thoughts in a totally original fashion, and takes place in a setting I can't recall ever seeing in any other motion picture. In contrast to the opening singer, the last singer (Sumi Jo) is "extremely" talented.

The acting is flawless from all involved, as is the casting, sets, editing, and most of all: 'the music'. I have since purchased the blu-ray of this film, and have watched it more times than I'd care to admit, and I've never been able to control my emotions at the very end with the voice of an angel soprano singing her heart out to a song that not only should have been nominated for an Oscar (it was), but should have won it hands down. 'Simple Song #3'

If you're an action addict, this film isn't for you. However, if you like beautiful scenery, music, and talent from all involved, you may like this film as much as I did: One of my top ten favorites.