Most reviews haven't lied about this movie: it is elliptic, it is cryptic; it is full of self-indulgent pseudo-intellectualism and cheap symbolism. The plot meanders and doesn't make complete sense. These things are all true
and yet I found myself liking it very much.
I wanted to watch this movie for no other reason other than that I had never seen a Coppola movie on the big screen. Being 23, I'm afraid I've missed all his earlier great ones; and when I finally grow up he stops making movies. So imagine my enthusiasm when he interrupts his 10-year-old break. Another reason, less superficial, is that I simply like linguistics, a topic which is very much at the centre of this movie, as the main character, Dominic Matei (in a delightful performance by Tim Roth), struggles to find the origins of language and human consciousness. This is the plot at its simplest. Adding more details would involve bringing up transmigration of souls, rejuvenation, Nazis, multiple personalities, Chinese philosophy, dead languages (I'll have to add Protoelamite to my vocabulary), and a few more things.
Technically speaking, the movie is outstanding; I understand this movie was a critical and commercial failure, but still the spite it has received from every awards institution is disheartening. The cinematography, by Mihai Malaimare Jr, rivals anything made in 2007. The beautiful music by Osvaldo Golijov is superior to anything Dario Marianelli, Alberto Iglesias or Michael Giachinno composed this year. The make-up is amazing: it has to be, considering it needs to realistically portray Tim Roth and the beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara as old people. The art direction and costume design are also beautiful: this movie starts in the 30's and goes all the way to the '50s, travelling across the globe and making occasional flashbacks to 19th century Romenia, so imagine how many different sets and eras they had to recreate. How come this aspect of the movie was ignored by the Academy or BAFTAS, for instance, is beyond me.
The acting is superb and the movie benefits from a fantastic ensemble: Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, André Hennicke, and even Matt Damon in a cameo. Without so many good actors, especially without Roth, the movie could have been unbearable. For truth be told, Coppola is trying to bite more than he can chew. He certainly has intellectual ambitions in this movie, which is admirable nowadays (more admirable is that he made this movie as he envisioned it, without interference), but he lacks the panache to pull them off. Having been ready for it, I didn't find it too off-putting, but I can understand why other people would react so aggressively towards it.
'Youth Without Youth' is a fascinating, demanding, frustrating movie. It's definitely not for everyone. But it still has a lot of artistic merit, and if anything else it shows Coppola still knows how to bring big ideas into movies, which only leaves me more enthused about his next movie, 'Tetro'.
I wanted to watch this movie for no other reason other than that I had never seen a Coppola movie on the big screen. Being 23, I'm afraid I've missed all his earlier great ones; and when I finally grow up he stops making movies. So imagine my enthusiasm when he interrupts his 10-year-old break. Another reason, less superficial, is that I simply like linguistics, a topic which is very much at the centre of this movie, as the main character, Dominic Matei (in a delightful performance by Tim Roth), struggles to find the origins of language and human consciousness. This is the plot at its simplest. Adding more details would involve bringing up transmigration of souls, rejuvenation, Nazis, multiple personalities, Chinese philosophy, dead languages (I'll have to add Protoelamite to my vocabulary), and a few more things.
Technically speaking, the movie is outstanding; I understand this movie was a critical and commercial failure, but still the spite it has received from every awards institution is disheartening. The cinematography, by Mihai Malaimare Jr, rivals anything made in 2007. The beautiful music by Osvaldo Golijov is superior to anything Dario Marianelli, Alberto Iglesias or Michael Giachinno composed this year. The make-up is amazing: it has to be, considering it needs to realistically portray Tim Roth and the beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara as old people. The art direction and costume design are also beautiful: this movie starts in the 30's and goes all the way to the '50s, travelling across the globe and making occasional flashbacks to 19th century Romenia, so imagine how many different sets and eras they had to recreate. How come this aspect of the movie was ignored by the Academy or BAFTAS, for instance, is beyond me.
The acting is superb and the movie benefits from a fantastic ensemble: Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, André Hennicke, and even Matt Damon in a cameo. Without so many good actors, especially without Roth, the movie could have been unbearable. For truth be told, Coppola is trying to bite more than he can chew. He certainly has intellectual ambitions in this movie, which is admirable nowadays (more admirable is that he made this movie as he envisioned it, without interference), but he lacks the panache to pull them off. Having been ready for it, I didn't find it too off-putting, but I can understand why other people would react so aggressively towards it.
'Youth Without Youth' is a fascinating, demanding, frustrating movie. It's definitely not for everyone. But it still has a lot of artistic merit, and if anything else it shows Coppola still knows how to bring big ideas into movies, which only leaves me more enthused about his next movie, 'Tetro'.