Some moviegoers, no doubt, will call Youth Without Youth "deep", "exquisite", a "metaphysical experience"; others will dismiss it as "unwatchable crap".
To give you an idea, this feels like a movie directed by Terry Gilliam and co-written by Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K. Dick. Its high-concept premise was an opportunity to explore themes like time, loss, regret. Unfortunately, the result is uneven, too ambitious for its own good.
Romania, 1938. Aging language scholar Dominic (Tim Roth) is struck by lighting and inexplicably becomes younger. He also develops an incredible memory which boosts his linguistic skills. When Nazis find out about him, Dominic escapes in Switzerland, where he is hunted down by a German scientist.
In the second half, which feels like a different movie altogether, Dominic meets Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), identical to Laura - I like the nod to Petrarca here: see the introductory dream, which is basically a "Triumph of the Death" - the woman he loved (and lost) sixty years before. Veronica too is struck by lighting (!) and experiences visions from her previous lives. Dominic uses her mystical journey for his study on the origins of language.
Add to this: some weird powers acquired by Dominic, who can read books by simply staring at them and at some point is also able control guns with telekinesis, like a low-rent Magneto; a cameo appearance by a furry-fingered creature holding a skull, apparently Shiva (?); an incomprehensible subplot about a "double" played by Roth as a mix between Adolf Hitler and Gollum (Coppola even uses the same camera tricks employed by Jackson during the schizophrenic conversations). I kid you not.
I like Roth (The Legend of 1900, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), but his performance here is uneven. As quiet, decent Dominic he is nicely understated; he is somewhat baffling as the already mentioned "double". Is it meant to represent Id? Superego? Or maybe a Jungian shadow? Beats me - and Roth too, I guess.
Luminous Alexandra Maria Lara is remarkable in a challenging and thankless role (after a brief appearance at the beginning she disappears from the movie for a long time).
Although I am not familiar with the novel by Mircea Eliade adapted here, I suspect two things: first, it could be interesting and make more sense than the movie; second, the adaptation suffers from what is called "the slideshow effect": all the best bits from the book glued together with little regard for pacing (which here is totally off) and clarity.
6/10
To give you an idea, this feels like a movie directed by Terry Gilliam and co-written by Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K. Dick. Its high-concept premise was an opportunity to explore themes like time, loss, regret. Unfortunately, the result is uneven, too ambitious for its own good.
Romania, 1938. Aging language scholar Dominic (Tim Roth) is struck by lighting and inexplicably becomes younger. He also develops an incredible memory which boosts his linguistic skills. When Nazis find out about him, Dominic escapes in Switzerland, where he is hunted down by a German scientist.
In the second half, which feels like a different movie altogether, Dominic meets Veronica (Alexandra Maria Lara), identical to Laura - I like the nod to Petrarca here: see the introductory dream, which is basically a "Triumph of the Death" - the woman he loved (and lost) sixty years before. Veronica too is struck by lighting (!) and experiences visions from her previous lives. Dominic uses her mystical journey for his study on the origins of language.
Add to this: some weird powers acquired by Dominic, who can read books by simply staring at them and at some point is also able control guns with telekinesis, like a low-rent Magneto; a cameo appearance by a furry-fingered creature holding a skull, apparently Shiva (?); an incomprehensible subplot about a "double" played by Roth as a mix between Adolf Hitler and Gollum (Coppola even uses the same camera tricks employed by Jackson during the schizophrenic conversations). I kid you not.
I like Roth (The Legend of 1900, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), but his performance here is uneven. As quiet, decent Dominic he is nicely understated; he is somewhat baffling as the already mentioned "double". Is it meant to represent Id? Superego? Or maybe a Jungian shadow? Beats me - and Roth too, I guess.
Luminous Alexandra Maria Lara is remarkable in a challenging and thankless role (after a brief appearance at the beginning she disappears from the movie for a long time).
Although I am not familiar with the novel by Mircea Eliade adapted here, I suspect two things: first, it could be interesting and make more sense than the movie; second, the adaptation suffers from what is called "the slideshow effect": all the best bits from the book glued together with little regard for pacing (which here is totally off) and clarity.
6/10