ThiefHott Too much of everything

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Prismark10 Francis Coppola's last mainstream Hollywood film was The Rainmaker and before that it was the critically maligned Jack. Since then the legend of cinema has walked away from being a director for hire. I guess he is still smarting from the failure of his Zoetrope Studios.In Youth without Youth Coppola turns to European art cinema and not for the first time. His black and white Rumble Fish was heavily influenced by the German Expressionist style.Tim Roth plays Dominic a 70 year old man in Pre World War 2 Romania, who is struck by lightning and is rejuvenated astounding his doctor (Bruno Ganz). Dominic is 30 years younger with a regenerated body, he even grows new teeth, he undergoes various tests put to him by his doctors. However it is not only the physical body that has improved, also his mental faculties have gone through a quantum leap. This also arouses the interests of the Nazis once the war erupts.Of course Dominic hides that he has an alter ego that converses with him and seems to have enhanced powers himself. Also whereas the older Dominic was striving to finish his life's work in the origins of linguistics, now he has the time to research and write further. He speaks many Oriental languages now he can read by just looking at a book.As the war rages on Dominic escapes to Switzerland to continues his research. In the 1950s, a meeting with a woman called Veronica who reminds him of Laura, a lost love turns the film further on its head. Veronica transmigrates to another soul back in time such as an early disciple of Buddha in ancient India. She keeps going back further in time speaking in ancient languages enabling Dominic to get very near to the first spoken text but at the risk of losing Veronica for good.The film is a mixture of vision and story. It could easily be something that could had been made by that other American filmmakers Terrence Malick or David Lynch. The film sets its stall out with the European Art-house cinema style, it is not a literal movie as the film feels dreamlike. You do wonder if this is all a dream of Dominic after being struck by lightning.The film is little known but I was surprised by how accessible it was and how much I enjoyed the film. Coppola has never been afraid to experiment and at times he has misfired badly. Even here some of the scenes set in India does not convince as they are too modern with modern cars driving past. There is even a shot of The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai that crops up in scenes set in Uttar Pradesh.However this is an intriguing, experimental even a slightly unnerving film. Roth should be given plaudits for drawing the viewer in and keeping them invested in his character.Youth without Youth shows the world that Coppola is still a master filmmaker.

schorschi100 As once Theodoros Aggelopoulos said, you need three things to make a great movie: a good scenario, a good scenario and a good scenario. This is definitely not the case here. There are countless loose threads of an underlying, yet never revealed story, and a constant insinuation of a great truth to be uncovered... which never happens. The characters are never shown in their true struggling (be it for life, truth, love or perception), the hero undergoes no catharsis/enlightenment/revenge (in other words whatever potentially gives purpose) and the rest do not contribute in any manner whatsoever. Every little story line is abandoned to make place to a new one which, in turn, gets later abandoned as well... I spent two hours waiting for the numerous pieces of a puzzle to add up to the big picture, to no avail. The pieces increased in number while their sense slowly faded away.The movie might please some wannabe cineastes, but to me (who have watched my share of excellent Tarkovski, Wenders and even Copola movies) it was just a waste of time. I give four stars for the, admittedly, superb aesthetics and acting.

cliffchuff I thought this film really presented in two parts, the first half was engaging and as usual Tim Roth holds the imagination. However in the second half of the film it seemed to loose its way a little, I struggled to get where it was going. Despite an interest in the themes represented and an understanding of the philosophy and religious concepts addressed I really struggled to engage with the plot/story. I will watch this again because I know there are depths to be mined. However i was left feeling disappointed. I stayed with the film but found it increasingly difficult to feel for the characters as it progressed. Too many concepts interwoven with out sufficient meaning. Way better than most productions and worth a watch but don't expect too much.

dont_tell_duncan Let me start by confirming I am big fan of art-house cinema and generally ignore most of the crap at the multiplex. So this film should be for me according to a lot of these reviews? Except it is flabbergastingly pretentious and frankly totally boring. Just some of the many clichés:Long rambling dialogue containing cod philosophy that is difficult to absorb in one sitting - check! Confusing time sequencing intended to disorientate - check! 'Righteous' battle to elude Nazis - check! Several sections spoken in different languages (including Sanskrit!?) - check! Ridiculous unnecessary shots such as the one of Roth face down in the bath or any number of the 'upside down' sequences - check!I could go on with many more but why keep hammering the point. And that's essentially where this film falls down - yes, if you watched it 5 or 10 times you'd probably see something deeper in it. But it's so laborious I found myself wondering why I bothered sitting through it all once let alone multiple times!There is, admittedly, some beautiful cinematography - especially of the landscapes - but unless you think the concepts that 'growing old is scary' and that 'you may end up at 70 wishing/dreaming you had regained your youth/had more time' are "revolutionary", I doubt you're going to find much in this two hours of incoherence.