Youth Without Youth (2007)

I love this movie so much

What a waste of my time!!!

One of the best films i have seen

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I am far from of the opinion that a film should be just an entertainment with lost of fast twists and turns, but still, films should - or could - be different from theatre performances where other moments and expressions prevail. Here, the background novella with the same name is dreamy enough, and the signature of Francis Ford Coppola has brought the scenes' progression to a hectic and often difficult-to-follow level, where even the good performance of Tim Roth (definitely in my Top10 list of distinctive actors) could not make all the events and motives understandable to me, I had to delve into the plot as a whole later on.As for other performances, there were no up to the task of Roth's, Bruno Ganz spend too little time on screen, but female characters remained incomplete to me. And all this for more than 2 hours... Well, it is not bad, no flop, but a kind of "film for art's sake" with the participation of some famous filmmakers.

If I didn't realize it's the same very Coppola, the creator of Dracula(1992), I wouldn't even consider watching any more of his movies after seeing this one. All the way from the second 0 to full 2 hours of the movie it felt like the legend of the big screen got stuck in 1970th and still speaks the language of unreasonably long scenes, heavy sounds and arrays of the "meaningful" blurry images interrupting the narrative to let us know of the character's deep complex feelings. Not that I ever mind the old movies aesthetics or complex feelings. But if a director uses ancient techniques and clichés I'd expect those artistic tropes to be at least a little more intricate than a ticking clock standing for… time. How's that for obvious? Besides the master touch of evident, the movie is loaded with no-bullshit past-life rhetoric with seeking for ultimate answers. Not that I mind a good eternal love story or totally scientific reincarnation. But if a director insists on big-time over-discussed perpetuating stuff, I'd expect it to give me at least a new angle, something that opens my eyes and changes my point. Well, at least something I could discuss at some advanced Soul Transmigration party, not that I go to. Some people tend to put up with any flaw wherever a plot looks mad enough to be called "deep" and cinematography is amply odd to be considered art, read - "not for everyone". Speaking of not for everyone, perhaps the most embarrassing in the movie was long monologues in Gibberish. Jokes aside, it is claimed to be a new artificial language. For the sake of art, perhaps I could put up with half film of Gibberish. If only the whole thing finally communicated at least one of the big ideas that it tried to talk about. If only the main character, a professor who lives to find the origin of languages, the beginning of times and can see Shiva by holding his hand above his sleeping girlfriend, didn't end up - spoiler! - "knowing very well that I'm dreaming" and contemplating on "mutation of human species" as the true meaning of nuclear catastrophe. How's that for deep?

RELEASED IN 2007, "Youth Without Youth" was Francis Ford Coppola's return to filmmaking after a ten-year absence. The story revolves around a 70 year-old man (Tim Roth) in Romania at the outset of WWII who is struck by lightning and miraculously regains his youth, looking like a 40 year-old man. He acquires amazing powers as well, like psycho-kinesis and the ability to "read" a book by "scanning" it with his mind. The Nazi's catch wind of his amazing evolution and want to study him to contribute to the "master race" (or whatever). The second half of the film takes place after the war years when the man finds a woman who looks like a young version of his deceased love (Alexandra Maria Lara). Incredibly, she too is struck by lightning with differing results and it aids in his research on the origins of languages.The plot brings to mind two films from the mid-90s that also address people with fascinating powers: "Powder" and "Phenomenon." The latter was decent whereas the former shot for greatness and in some ways attained it. "Youth Without Youth" is completely different in tone, mostly due to the WWII time-frame, but also because it's less of a wannabe blockbuster and more artsy and nigh unfathomable.It has been said that "Youth Without Youth" was an intensely personal project for Coppola. The topic, based on the novel by Mircea Eliade, resonated with him and he was driven to convey it on film. You get the impression that Coppola had discovered the answer to the mysteries of life and wanted to share it with the world.Think about it: Coppola is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and he had a full decade to conceive, prepare, make and release a film. He could've churned out blockbuster drivel like the "Transformers" movies (not that there's anything wrong with that, lol), but as a true artist he's beyond caring about creating popular popcorn fare and the "success" thereof. It brings to mind Willard's observations about Col. Kurtz (Brando) in Coppola's renowned "Apocalypse Now" (1979): "He could've gone for general, but he went for himself instead." Francis could've gone for mindless and lucrative entertainment, but he had something more important in mind.So "Youth Without Youth" is a work of art, and certainly interesting and entertaining in some ways, but it requires willingness and effort to handle the 124 minutes runtime. It is a dense film, loaded with depth; it may even hold the secrets to life itself! Beyond that, it features some beautiful cinematography, music and women.Speaking of the women, I found it curious that women are shown to be universally attracted to Dominic, the main character played by Roth. After all, Roth is short and hardly a George Clooney. But then I reflected on it and accepted it. Why? Because women have a sort of sixth sense, typically called "women's intuition," where they see or sense things beyond the physical. In other words, Dominic had highly evolved and was, in essence, a superior human being. He may not have been an Adonis, but women instinctively picked up on his evolutionary superiority and drew to him like a magnet.Another plus are the locations, shot in Romania and Bulgaria with establishing shots of the Himalayas and India.Needless to say, this is a difficult film to rate. If you're in the mood for conventional cinematic entertainment "Youth Without Youth" won't fill the bill even though there are several entertaining elements (the aforementioned cinematography, music, women and locations); but if you're looking for cinematic art and weighty mind food it's an "A." As such, my balanced rating is...GRADE: B-

I thought this movie was brilliant! It's not a straightforward flick but it does have a satisfying completeness about it, and I am shocked now I've just checked the IMDb score (6.3)! I can't pretend to write a review which sounds as though I went to movie school, but I do know that this was one of the best stories IMHO, ever committed to celluloid.The film is full of wonderful devices which make it in to a great introspective plot. There are scenes which make us question our own humanity and of what it means to be alive, what gives a man purpose and what do we fear.There's a guy who wrote a review in the 'Hated It' section who has a masters in Psychology, so I'm sat here wondering If I've just watched 'Animal Farm' and seen a film about talking animals. I'm not sure, but when you watch this one, think about life's big questions, and I'm sure you'll find it enjoyable!