Youth

— A detailed and beautiful look at art, youth, and older age. A retired, renowned composer and orchestra conductor is at a Swiss resort with his daughter and his best friend, an acclaimed film director, when the Queen invites him to conduct his most famous piece for the prince’s birthday. The film moves lovingly at a cadence all its own, sometimes feeling almost like an homage to Fellini. I went from being mesmerized by the film to shaking my head and questioning where it was going. In the end, I liked parts of it but think I may need to see it a second time to know if it was successful. Maybe my steady diet of popular films has left me unable to fully appreciate things more cerebral, or maybe it’s just an uneven film. It does have a great cast, a nice bit of humor, gorgeous cinematography, and the hand of a great director, but with only one viewing under my belt, I think Sorrentino’s other English-language film, “The Great Beauty”, is more worth your while.

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[2015, 124 min. Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Starring Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/youth-2015l