Frustrating. At times, sublimely beautiful as the camera pans past half-submerged bathers perfectly lined up at the edge of the pool: other times completely art-house baffling – an airline stewardess standing in the middle of a Swiss Alpine meadow?
As with his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino explores the bizarre and surreal, reminiscent of Fellini, but without the masters’s wit or observational finesse.
In Youth, there’s lots of ‘moments’ but precious little depth with the likes of Michael Caine (Alfie, Cider With Rosie), Jane Fonda (Barbarella, Klute) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Favourite) totally under-utilised. But Sorrentino certainly knows how to use music both in his narrative and as pure artifice.
Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2016 – David Lang for best original song.
Rating: 48%
Director: Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, Il divo)
Writer: Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, Il divo)
Main cast: Michael Caine (Alfie, Cider With Rosie), Jane Fonda (Barbarella, Klute), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener, The Favourite), Harvey Keitel (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Pulp Fiction)
An Opinion or Two 