Susan Granger’s review of “Youth” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Evoking memories of Federico Fellini’s “8 ½,” Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino, who won a Foreign Language Film Oscar for “The Great Beauty” (2013), uses imagery as an integral part of the story.
Set in a sumptuous Alpine spa, the rambling plot revolves around Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a retired British composer/conductor, and his longtime pal, American screenwriter/director Mick Boyle (Harvey Keitel).
Fred is accompanied by his neurotic daughter, Lena (Rachel Weisz), while Mick struggles with his next script, attended by several sycophants. Relationships get strained when Lena’s feckless husband (Ed Stoppard), who happens to be Mick’s son, leaves her for sexy British pop star Paloma Faith (playing herself).
As Fred and Mick playfully ponder their prostates, as well as their respective legacies, and ruminate about their womanizing pasts, they’re surrounded by attentive staff and other guests.
There’s Jimmy Tree (Paul Dano), a serious, self-absorbed actor, preparing for an unnerving role; an obese former soccer star (Roly Serrano); a lovelorn mountaineering instructor (Robert Seethaler); an elegant couple who always dine alone, never speaking to one another; and voluptuous Miss Universe (Madalina Ghenea), who strolls into the warm, sun-dappled pool unabashedly nude.
When Queen Elizabeth II’s emissary (Alex Macqueen) arrives, he invites Fred to conduct a Royal Concert of “Simple Songs,” an early composition which triggers more melancholy memories than he can handle. Then Mick is stunned by a disquieting visit from his eccentric cinematic muse, bitter Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda).
FYI: the idyllic Swiss hotel is actually Berghotel Schatzalp, near Davos, which inspired Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain.”
Working with a multitude of interacting characters and unpredictable ideas, Paolo Sorrentino and his cinematographer, Luca Bigazzi, relish the lush, rhythmic visuality, while New York-based post-Minimalist composer David Lang contributes an evocative score – as both Caine and Keitel deliver subtle, multi-layered performances, among the best of their respective careers.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Youth” is an idiosyncratic, exquisite 8, an empathetic meditation on the human spirit.
