Film No. 88 (2015) Youth December 12th.

Film No. 88 (2015) December 12th.  10.45 AM LUNA Leederville. 

"It's a good friendship and in a good friendship you only tell each other the good things" (Mick (Keitel) explains to Lena (Weisz) the foundation of his friendship with her father Fred (Caine)) 

                                                 

My theory, for what it's worth, is that viewing Youth is the equivalent to being offered a quality box of chocolates so that one might enjoy a succulent treat for indulgence sake. It is visually stunning, totally self indulgent and makes no excuses to be any thing other than another excellent contribution for the viewing pleasure of masses of film loving baby boomers. But I found myself checking my watch more often than usual.

Director, Paolo Sorrentino has much of his talent on show in Youth. His sumptuous visuals and sharp dialogue are well up to standard, it's just that they don't add up to much. Ballinger (Michael Caine) and Boyle (Harvey Keitel) are self indulged artists who have been friends for 60 years. We meet them at a retreat for the extremely wealthy as they cleanse their body and mind. Boyle is working on the development of his new film and Ballenger is there under the auspices of his daughter Lena (Rachel Weisz).

We learn about Fred's brilliance as a composer and conductor from a series of vignettes, the main one involving Queen Elizabeth wanting him to return to London for a gala concert in her presence. Boyle on the other hand has his eggs in one basket when it comes to his next film. He needs Brenda Morel (Jane Fonda), his favourite actor of all time, to play the lead in his production. There is a touch of suspense as we head towards the concluding scenes, all the time wading through a variety of pretty images to reinforce the indulgence that is Youth.


The landscape is everything you would see while following The Tour de France but better because of the size of the screen. The bodies of the young and the beautiful mostly brown, wet and perfect are hard to ignore. Then there are a couple of monologues delivered with perfect tone and rhythm by Weisz which gives us a better insight into why she is not that chuffed with Ballenger. Finally the vaguely suspenseful moments are revealed and I can stop looking at my watch. Youth is pretty, but a bit boring. 6GUMS.