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#764 - Youth
Paolo Sorrentino, 2015
Two lifelong friends - one a retired British composer, the other a veteran American film-maker - must deal with their many problems while on holiday at a Swiss mountain resort.
It's an admittedly boring-sounding premise, that of a two-hour film about a pair of old white geezers puttering about the grounds of some exotic European locale grumbling about how old and useless they are, but in the hands of such impressive talent on both sides of the camera it manages to work. Having said old geezers be none other than Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel certainly sweetens the deal, as does the fact that they both become the separate beating hearts of a solid acting ensemble and embody different aspects of what the film is trying to depict. While both characters are superficially similar, they couldn't be any more different at heart. Caine plays an eminent British composer and conductor who is trying to enjoy his annual holiday at a Swiss mountain resort but is constantly being pestered to return to his native Britain in order to conduct a performance of his most famous composition (which he naturally refuses to do for reasons that soon become clear). In his role as a renowned film director, Keitel acts as quite the disagreeable foil to Caine despite their respective characters' decades-long friendship; while Caine is content to spend his final years resting on his laurels, Keitel is busy at work crafting his latest film, which will apparently serve as a "testament" to his already-respectable career. They are just a couple of guests at this hotel, whose other prominent guests include a young actor (Paul Dano) preparing for his next role or Caine's daughter/assistant (Rachel Weisz) who has come to the same resort not only to help Caine handle his affairs but also to cope with being separated from her husband, who just so happens to be Keitel's son.
There are definitely some talented performers on display here. Two-time Oscar-winner Caine definitely demonstrates his most impressive performance in years as the recalcitrant maestro who steadfastly sticks to his principles regardless of whether or not it makes any significant difference in the grand scheme of things, showing some serious heart underneath his crusty exterior. The gruffly charismatic Keitel throws himself into a character who does not conjure any serious associations with particular filmmakers as both he and his team of collaborators struggle to come up with the perfect storyline and ending for his supposedly definitive next film. Caine and Keitel do have some impressive chemistry in their scenes, even if they are frequently engaging in superficially banal discussions ranging in topic from their urinary dysfunctions to their perpetual wagers on the behaviours of fellow guests. Dano once again demonstrates a solid performance despite his comically baby-faced exterior and extremely familiar arc as he plays an actor who yearns to distinguish himself as a serious artist despite his best-known role being one in a generic crowd-pleaser; the revelation of the role that he's been trying to immerse himself in serves as the darkest chuckle in a film that's full of them. In the same sense, Weisz proves a performer that's greater than the sum of her character's parts as she manages to carry quite the complicated role as her attempts to cajole Caine into following up on his various obligations is less about reminding her boss of his appointments and more about encouraging her father to do more with his increasingly limited lifespan. This does yield some good moments (such as her character's lengthy and tearful monologue directed at Caine halfway through the film), though it has to in order to compensate for her more banal-sounding narrative as a maudlin divorcee who is approached by one of the hotel's other guests.
It'd be one thing if Sorrentino just sought to capture everything in as straightforward a manner as possible with only the slightest service to either the comedy or the visuals, but fortunately that is not the case. Everything from drawn-out long-shots of people going about their daily business to flashy music-video parodies is infused with creativity of both a sonic and visual nature. This extends to various sequences that are lent impressive levels of nuance due to clever choices of background music or patient camera movements - look no further than the entire sequence playing out to the gentle crescendos of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "Storm", for instance (the fact that the film dares to cut the song off before it finishes is easily its biggest mistake). These stylistic choices complement rather than distract from the many conflicts at the heart of the film, with all the most serious parts of the film being lent the same careful structuring that knows not to distract from the importance of what's actually happening. Prominent examples include Caine passionately explaining his constant refusal to perform another concert or the most important part of Keitel's character's arc (which I honestly want to keep as vague as possible because of its impact and involvement of a certain Oscar-winning actress). In short, Youth may be just the kind of darkly comic meditation on the aging process that it appears to be on the surface, but there is plenty of depth to it in terms of both narrative and artistic complexity that it more than makes up for its superficial familiarity.
Paolo Sorrentino, 2015
Two lifelong friends - one a retired British composer, the other a veteran American film-maker - must deal with their many problems while on holiday at a Swiss mountain resort.
It's an admittedly boring-sounding premise, that of a two-hour film about a pair of old white geezers puttering about the grounds of some exotic European locale grumbling about how old and useless they are, but in the hands of such impressive talent on both sides of the camera it manages to work. Having said old geezers be none other than Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel certainly sweetens the deal, as does the fact that they both become the separate beating hearts of a solid acting ensemble and embody different aspects of what the film is trying to depict. While both characters are superficially similar, they couldn't be any more different at heart. Caine plays an eminent British composer and conductor who is trying to enjoy his annual holiday at a Swiss mountain resort but is constantly being pestered to return to his native Britain in order to conduct a performance of his most famous composition (which he naturally refuses to do for reasons that soon become clear). In his role as a renowned film director, Keitel acts as quite the disagreeable foil to Caine despite their respective characters' decades-long friendship; while Caine is content to spend his final years resting on his laurels, Keitel is busy at work crafting his latest film, which will apparently serve as a "testament" to his already-respectable career. They are just a couple of guests at this hotel, whose other prominent guests include a young actor (Paul Dano) preparing for his next role or Caine's daughter/assistant (Rachel Weisz) who has come to the same resort not only to help Caine handle his affairs but also to cope with being separated from her husband, who just so happens to be Keitel's son.
There are definitely some talented performers on display here. Two-time Oscar-winner Caine definitely demonstrates his most impressive performance in years as the recalcitrant maestro who steadfastly sticks to his principles regardless of whether or not it makes any significant difference in the grand scheme of things, showing some serious heart underneath his crusty exterior. The gruffly charismatic Keitel throws himself into a character who does not conjure any serious associations with particular filmmakers as both he and his team of collaborators struggle to come up with the perfect storyline and ending for his supposedly definitive next film. Caine and Keitel do have some impressive chemistry in their scenes, even if they are frequently engaging in superficially banal discussions ranging in topic from their urinary dysfunctions to their perpetual wagers on the behaviours of fellow guests. Dano once again demonstrates a solid performance despite his comically baby-faced exterior and extremely familiar arc as he plays an actor who yearns to distinguish himself as a serious artist despite his best-known role being one in a generic crowd-pleaser; the revelation of the role that he's been trying to immerse himself in serves as the darkest chuckle in a film that's full of them. In the same sense, Weisz proves a performer that's greater than the sum of her character's parts as she manages to carry quite the complicated role as her attempts to cajole Caine into following up on his various obligations is less about reminding her boss of his appointments and more about encouraging her father to do more with his increasingly limited lifespan. This does yield some good moments (such as her character's lengthy and tearful monologue directed at Caine halfway through the film), though it has to in order to compensate for her more banal-sounding narrative as a maudlin divorcee who is approached by one of the hotel's other guests.
It'd be one thing if Sorrentino just sought to capture everything in as straightforward a manner as possible with only the slightest service to either the comedy or the visuals, but fortunately that is not the case. Everything from drawn-out long-shots of people going about their daily business to flashy music-video parodies is infused with creativity of both a sonic and visual nature. This extends to various sequences that are lent impressive levels of nuance due to clever choices of background music or patient camera movements - look no further than the entire sequence playing out to the gentle crescendos of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "Storm", for instance (the fact that the film dares to cut the song off before it finishes is easily its biggest mistake). These stylistic choices complement rather than distract from the many conflicts at the heart of the film, with all the most serious parts of the film being lent the same careful structuring that knows not to distract from the importance of what's actually happening. Prominent examples include Caine passionately explaining his constant refusal to perform another concert or the most important part of Keitel's character's arc (which I honestly want to keep as vague as possible because of its impact and involvement of a certain Oscar-winning actress). In short, Youth may be just the kind of darkly comic meditation on the aging process that it appears to be on the surface, but there is plenty of depth to it in terms of both narrative and artistic complexity that it more than makes up for its superficial familiarity.