YOUTH (gets released on a larger scale on the 8th of January)
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
Screenplay by Paolo Sorrentino
Starring Michael Caine; Harvey Keitel; Rachel Weiz; Paul Dano
A retired orchestra conductor is on holiday with his daughter and his film director best friend in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip's birthday.
Pretentious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was sucked in by the trailer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the sheep that gave this fantastic reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The film goes on and on and on (I left during the credits and somebody was singing...so for all I know it could still be going on). I wanted soooo bad to like it.
This film can suck you in with little bright spots and then it leaves a subject and introduces a new character. Then it moves on again. Then you are sucked by something humorous and then it breaks away to imaginary actors. It has absolutely no rhythm. At one point Jane Fonda come in like she came in from another movie or stage playing Norma Desmond (And no she does not deserve an Oscar Nom for 5 minutes of crazy on screen). Don't worry about her character however... like a lot of the characters in this film...it is not important. They move on and on and on to someone else. I am thinking Paolo was trying to be quirky, but it all fell flat.
Good Points:
The spa looked beautiful.
Word is spreading for a Oscar for Caine. I disagree, I do however think it was Rachel Weiz's best performance in years!
When Caine and Keitel are walking and talking and Caine and Dano are walking and talking it seems pleasant enough.
There are a couple really good moment and some funny moments. Out of the 120 minutes....that will be about 10 minutes.
So we come to critics again. How can this film be getting such good reviews? I go back to the sheep factor. They cannot and will not go against the grain. They think this is so deep and smart it has to get a great review, like all the other critics/buddies write. They forget.....people pay to go to the movies!!!!!!!! They want to be entertained. They want to learn something. They want emotion!! Most moviegoers, not all, don't care about how deep it is with imaginary actors on a hill. Per example: We see over and over again a husband and wife eating and not talking. It is funny at first and then after seeing that scene over and over again it is sad. And then we see this old couple having sex against a tree. And that is the last we see of them. I am sure there is a deep meaning there but....I did not care!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted it to focus on Weiz or Dano.
2 out of 5 stars ...with the two stars being for Weiz and the 10 minutes of entertainment. This is the type of film that gives art houses a bad roll your eyes name. Go to an art house and support small films!! Go see Brooklyn. Room. Carol. Skip this one and watch when it come to home viewing if you must watch. It is a shame, because there is something here about looking back and longing for youth, but this got bogged down by a pretentious script.
As always thanks for your time from the shadows.
Now if you had the misfortune of seeing this here is how I will fix this boring arty mess because I wanted it to work:
Harvey Keitel's movie can go. That along with his film workers and Jane Fonda.
Dano's Hitler can go.....yes he dressed as Hitler.
The couple who do not talk needs to be seen only once.
The pee jokes can go...they got no laughs
The heavy rock star can go with the tattoo on his back
The guy who floats (yes you read that right)
With all this gone. You have an Hour and a half film about two friends (Keitel and Caine) an actor (Dano) a daughter (Weiz)...all staying at a spa for a week and talking about life changes and getting old and longing. Like Before Sunset series. Trust in the actors. Throw in more humor like this line that was in the movie: Weiz-I am great in bed I do not know why he left me. Caine: I know Weiz: How do you know. Caine: Your my daughter. Lines like that were funny. Or a funny video of a modern singer which was ridiculously funny. In other words fine a tone!!
No comments:
Post a Comment