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Written for the screen and Directed by Starring Rated R Presented by 125 Minutes |
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YOUTH
WITHOUT YOUTH Review
YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is the first film by Francis Ford Coppola in a decade, a collage of many genres about the struggle of finding love versus completing a work that you want your life to define you. It’s probably the most personal film Coppola has made to date and while the film is absolutely beautiful and visually stunning in every way, it’s main themes of love, language, and immortality proves so complex that it may leave some viewers scratching their heads. The film begins with Dominic Matei (a superb Tim Roth), a 70 year old linguistics professor living in 1938 Romania. Haunted by the failure of completing his life’s work on the origins of language as well as losing the love of his life (Alexandra Maria Lara), he gets struck by lightning. With this event, he finds that his youth has been restored, making him appear to be a man of 35-40 years old. With nothing to live for at first, he agrees to be studied by Romanian doctor Professor Stanciulescu (Bruno Ganz) and slowly finds himself at a choice to either reclaim a lost love or a chance to finish his life’s work at discovering the origins and the history of language, believing that human consciousness plays a significant role in creating a sense of time. Soon, Dominic begins seeing a duplicate of him, who orders him to complete his life’s work, and obeys. Once his secret is out, the Nazi party wants him for themselves, and enlist a mysterious “Woman In Room 6” (Alexandra Pirici) to seduce Dominic into falling into their hands. Once Dominic uses his newfound knowledge to his advantage to flee from the Nazis, he decides to document his findings and continue his work on language. It is when he meets up with a dead ringer of his lost love who suffers the same fate as he that she holds the answer he seeks in his work. However, his love for her conflicts with his determination to finish his work, and Dominic finds himself with another chance at making the same choices all over again, but will he make the same decision? YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is not a film for everyone. In fact, three days after viewing the film at Sony Studios, I still wasn’t sure whether or not I liked the film overall. I’m still thinking about that even as I write this review. I will say that this is one of the most gorgeous looking films I’ve seen this year. This was Coppola’s first film shot on HD and it doesn’t show at all as the film has an old style feel that it was shot in the times the film took place. The scenes in 1938 have a very soft feel to it much like the films of that era, while the scenes that occur in the second half of the film in the 1960s have a solid Technicolor feel to it. The film was primarily shot in Romania and makes full use of the country’s gorgeous landscapes by its tremendous cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr. (who will work with Coppola again on his next film TETRO) Tim Roth is one of my all time favorite actors, and to see him play such a sensitive lead in this film is refreshing as it is his best role in years. Roth, known for his scenery chewing supporting roles, commands the screen in this film, as he appears in virtually every scene. The scenes where he talks to his “double” provide a little confusion as it’s not necessarily a conversation of good vs. evil as it is more a conflict between science and love. Even in his mannerisms, Roth is splendid. Starting the film as an aging 70 year old man, when he first transforms into his youthful look, he still walks with the demeanor and speaks like an elderly man. The absolutely beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara, who was excellent in DOWNFALL, is also great here in three roles: Laura, the first love of Dominic’s life who leaves him when he shows more interest in his work; Veronica, the young beauty Dominic encounters who suffers the same fate as Dominic; and most interestingly Rupini, Veronica’s “double” who spouts ancient languages that go further back in time, as Dominic finds she is the key to complete his work, but at the expense of both her sanity and their love. Bruno Ganz isn’t given much as the kindly professor, but it’s nice to see him in such a sympathic role after playing Hitler in the epic DOWNFALL. Making her film debut, the lovely Alexandra Pirici makes a timeless beauty in her seduction of Dominic and her ultimate betrayal of her party. Andre M. Hennicke makes his English film debut as a Nazi scientist determined to capture Dominic to study him for a method of immortality. It’s not a huge role, but a pivotal one as it is his interest in Dominic that forces Matei to choose his future path. Matt Damon shows up in a pivotal cameo as a mysterious man who meets Dominic and offers him a chance to set up a new identity. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH was faithfully based on a novella by Mircea Eliade and after I viewed the film, I immediately bought the novella and researched it. Having no knowledge of the novella, I did find the scenes where Dominic was into his work to be confusing, as I do not know much about linguistics. With that said, being that I didn’t fully understand it would be unfair for me to judge my review on that. What Coppola does with this film was make me want to understand it, which makes for a good film. When Coppola gets personal into a project, at times he gets too personal where it can confuse the viewer, but in every case with his personal films, it makes me wants to learn more about the subjects he is passionate about. Even if the film overall feels a bit convoluted, there is something in every film of Coppola’s that leaves you feeling inspired in some way. In all, YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is a welcome return to form for cinema’s most accomplished living filmmaker that will mainly appeal to a European audience, and loyal fans of his work. It’s not his best film and those looking for something more epic in his return after a decade long hiatus will be disappointed (a few critics walked out on the screening), it’s still worth two viewings: one to appreciate the gorgeous imagery, and another to understand the language of the film. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH is a film that will make your mind work, and in today’s age of mindless drivel packing in audiences, this is a welcome return to cinema. YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH: 7 Out Of 10 Maggots CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA! CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH TIM ROTH! CLICK HERE FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA MARIA LARA!
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