Two longtime friends live through the twilight of their legendary careers while reflecting on life’s biggest philosophies, in “Youth”. Fred and Mick (Michael Caine, Harvy Keitel), two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives, Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again. With time running out, the two men conquer everything through iron-clad friendship and expertise in life’s many choices. What really pulled me into “Youth” was the cross-examination of two friends who are the same age, both crossing monumental directions in their respective careers. The two male leads are well polished and prove that age is only a number. Where the movie gets out of hand is in a pretentious script that makes the movie feel like two different films by the anti-climatic ending.

The first forty minutes of this movie will easily pull you in to this beautiful setting, complete with many experimental camera shots. The movie has some of the best framing work that I have seen for a budget so condensed (12 million). Most of the movie’s screen time revolves around more than once character being in the shot, so director Paolo Sorrentino crafts back-and-forth switch shots between each character talking in the forefront, while the listener is in the background. On top of this, to anyone who knows Sorrentino’s work (The Great Beauty), they know that he is a student of fine Italian film making, and as a treat we are subjected to many wide angle shots of the Swiss alps, during a time of reflection for our protagonist. This gives the movie a nice symbolic epiphany, which I took as Paolo trying to tell us that our problems are so small in the world of real beauty. Another great thing that the film has going for it is an entrancing orchestral score by longtime composer David Lang. Besides Caine’s character, music plays a big role in this movie, as a lot of the tones accompany a change of emotions for the characters and their respective stories. It makes for a very eye-appealing Italian style drama that packs a lot of worthwhile cinematography.

Unfortunately, the substance doesn’t quite match the breath-taking style. The biggest problem that I had with the movie is that there is too much going on. Caine and Keitel’s stories alone would’ve been enough to carry this film to a 7 or even an 8 out 10, but the movie would also like to focus on no fewer than four other characters over the course of the picture. For a movie about using the most of life’s precious gifts, the movie wastes too much time on characters whining or complaining about superficial things that I had a real problem relating to. Because of the overlapping of one character arc after another, “Youth” will be a tough sit for any casual movie fan who are only watching the film to appease their enjoyment of one of the film’s stars. For most of the second act, the movie is very incoherent, opting for a beautiful illustration instead of just giving the audience a simple answer. I mentioned in the last paragraph how style plays a big part in the movie, and it’s definitely appreciated. But it’s pretentious tone for the film does more bad than good for a movie that i invested two hours into. That’s not to say that “Youth” is a bad film, more like a strong effort by a great director who is also a flawed writer.

As for the performances, they offer a wide range of pleasing emotional response. Michael Caine continues to take ahold of a film and mold it into whatever way he sees fit. In my review for “The Last Witch Hunter”, I mentioned how important it is to make the most of a Caine role, as the man not only has great comedic timing, but an on-screen presence from a generation of film that is quickly fading out. As Fred, Caine works as kind of a pessimistic when it comes to life and trying to do better for himself. It’s nice though to see that his passion for composing music hasn’t died, as there are many nice private scenes where Fred’s love for film translates to the audience. Harvey Keitel matches Caine’s performance with an optimistic view on his future for filmmaking. It’s kind of interesting to see how great their chemistry is, despite how they live their lives by such different stances. Keitel plays his most meaningful role of the last decade, and he does it in a way that serves as kind of a teacher for some of the film’s younger cast. With such a cast, we are treated to solid performances by Rachel Weisz, Jane Fonda, and the ever-evolving Paul Dano. On the latter, I wish his character meant more to the film than just another person for Caine and Keitel to play off of. One thing is for certain though, this movie is another chance to see Paul’s subtle brilliance in facial acting.

Overall, “Youth” overstays it’s welcome, despite a third act that is an emotional roller coaster for the audience who invested their time into it. You are definitely getting a slow and artsy kind of film here, and if that isn’t your thing I would greatly understand. This film will come as a positive reflection however, to two great male leads long after they shuffle off of this mortal coil. Through it all, the movie shows that some youths of people’s lives come later than expected.

6/10