Youth (2015)

For me this film is the “sleeper of the year.”  It is so beautiful and moving and rings so true even through its allegories and metaphors.  Themes include aging, friendship, self-worth. failed marriages and human interaction.  The film has superb camerawork with fantastic scenery shots and expressive, emotional facial shots.  Michael Caine tells so much with his face and eyes that his dialogue becomes almost inconsequential.  Likewise Luna Mijovic, who plays a young masseuse, with a slim body and a mouthful of braces, uses her movement and body language to tell so much.  At one point in the film she tells Caine that she does not talk because she rarely has anything to say.  In an audible sense that might be true but not in reality. She is at peace and can understand people much better than her elders.  Every piece of music both diegetic and non-diegetic has a significant purpose and adds a lot.  Although the film is quite serious, there is enough humor interspersed to prevent it from being maudlin.  I do believe that this film is age relative and will not be enjoyed as much by younger viewers.  The film seems like it moves at a slow pace but that perception comes from the fact that it is absolutely steady.  Never speeding up nor slowing down.  Director/Writer Paolo Sorrentino far exceeds his last film “The Great Beauty“.  I cannot wait for the DVD to come out so that I can add it to my library.