Review of Youth Without Youth (2007) by R.j. L — 27 Oct 2010

What is life? Life is a dream that you can sometimes wake up from and then it is not, there is no dream there is nothing but life, how do you define what you are doing or how you are living by simple means? How do you define where you go, what you do, or whom you meet? What is life but a fleeting thing that begins one moment and then ends the next? However, out of death, there is life and out of life, there is death. There are no clear paths in life except for the ones that we make for ourselves, we try to comprehend the dire state of the situation that we are in, but we do not know the real troubles that this life holds for us. So I ask you if you had the chance to live your youth over again to do it all right to make better choices to change the unchangeable to undo the undoable to make your life something more than what it has turned out, would you?

Francis Ford Coppola's "Youth Without Youth" is a deep, morbid, highly complex, enthralling and mind bending films I have ever seen Coppola has crafted a movie that not only works as a piece of experimental film making but as a piece of expressionism and deep rooted meaning about the true nature of life. How this film plays with the many different emotions is astounding. Throughout the film, there are many questions that Coppola presents for the audience to answer. One of those questions asked is what is there to life and why do us as humans make the choices we do. "Youth without Youth" is an ingenious mix of genres that blends the bleakness of the morals of humanity with the dark and morbid reality of the limitations of life. This film is a fascinating portrayal of how age can be the enemy of our greatest achievements while we may find ourselves loved by millions or have won some prestigious award that makes you famous in time, our accomplishments and the person who achieved them are all but forgotten. In the case of seventy year old, Dominic Matei (Tim Roth) life has seemed to pass him by as a young man he had all the time in the world but now that he has just turned seventy years old it seems like there is no time for anyone or anything. After a lightning bolt strikes the elderly professor, he somehow returned to the days of his youth and given a second chance to rediscover all that time has taken away from him, to rediscover himself, to rediscover love and to finish the work he started so long ago. This film's story and premise so convoluted and disjointed that to try to describe this film would be all but impossible. It is kind of like describing the plot of "The Matrix"(1999) or "Inception"(2010) or "Blade Runner"(1982). The questions are numerous the answers are few. To be honest with you there are no answers for this film only questions those questions are numerous and daunting there are a few things that make sense in Francis Ford Coppola's "Youth without Youth." This film meant to be like a jigsaw puzzle Coppola gives you the pieces the viewer has to put all the pieces together if it is possible. "Youth Without Youth" is a dazzling, mesmerizing and mind bending film that takes the most basic elements of life and fantasy and blends them together to form a story that lives up to the name it carries and the man behind the camera.

This film is like a twisted version of a Robert Frost poem with its non-linear references of life, its twisted and sometimes diluted outlook on war, politics, and love that last beyond life itself. "Youth without Youth" is an extravaganza of style, technique, depth of character the meaning of life itself this is a highly moving and engrossing film that not only provokes thoughts challenges you to push yourself further when it comes to movies. This is not a movie for those who have a thing for films like "Transformers"(2007) or its money making train wreck "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"(2009) this is the kind of film for intelligent moviegoers for those who want to question the happenings in this exceedingly complex piece of work. Truth be told no one is debating the plot of "Twilight Saga: Eclipse"(2010) this is the kind of film that works to challenge its viewers to make them try and comprehend the daring plot and confounding premise, "Youth Without Youth" is one of the best films of the last decade and a triumphant return for master filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola proving he still has what it takes to still be considered one of the greatest directors of all time.

Tim Roth's performance in this film is astounding, Roth plays Matei as a somber quiet man who has lost everything, and has only one thing left to do. Take his life. Matei is the kind of man who is highly respected in the academic community but feels lost in a sea of youth and vigor. He feels like he may never complete his life's work and will die alone his work sitting on his desk forever unfinished and untouched, that is Matei's fear. After a freak, accident Matei given a second chance to revisit his youth and find his true purpose in life as long he might have to live out this newfound youth, Roth is a capable actor and here he is at his most restrained and most intriguing as a man who is old and then young again. Who has lost love, then found love again, and re-finding the meaning of life. This is Roth's film; he owns this film with his quiet demeanor and vast knowledge he gives a sort of engrossing quality to Dominic Matei making him something of a more intriguing character than if someone else had played him. Roth is the center of this film he makes this film a worth seeing coupled with Coppola's dark, visionary script the stark beautiful cinematography by Mihai Malaimare, Jr. makes "Youth without Youth" the film to watch. The rest of the cast including Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, Andre Hennickle, Marcel lures, and Matt Damon all deliver fin performances in this fascinating portrait of life, love, and death.

Where we end up is not enough where we end up is never where we want to be, what we do is only defined by what we accomplish and how do you define a life without no purpose? Your purpose is to find your purpose and once you find that purpose your life is more fulfilled you feel the worth it has to offer. That is how I feel about the sequences of events that transpire in Francis Ford Coppola's "Youth Without Youth" a film with meaning and depth that most(if not all) can not fathom. This a deep multi-layered film that mixes many genres including science fiction, dark fantasy, drama, romance, political, conspiracy, war the list goes on.. What to take away from this film is that there may not be a true answer to life however, Coppola does his best to give us some very profound questions to ponder and reflect upon after the initial viewing of his somber and ever perplexing masterpiece that challenges you to think every step of the way. Making you ponder and see things that in ways you never would have thought of, this is not only a successful experiment in filmmaking but also a successful first film in a decade from one of cinema's master filmmakers. Coppola has all the right ingredients and he has mixed them together in one of his finest and most tasteful concoctions.