Youth Without Youth
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring:
Tim Roth - Dominic Matei
Alexandra Maria Lara - Veronica / Laura
Bruno Ganz - Professor Stanciulescu
There's a tremendous question mark when a legendary filmmaker like Francis Ford Coppola, responsible for the The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now as well as the atrocities of Dracula and Jack, decides to return to filmmaking after such a prolonged absence (in Hollywood-years). After seeing his latest film, Youth Without Youth, he's answered some questions about himself with a movie that's nothing if not confounding.
The story (if I understood it, and that's a very big "if") follows Dominic Matei (Tim Roth), a lonely old man who goes to Romania to commit suicide, only to be struck by a bolt of lightning and regenerated to his young self. And if that wasn't supernatural enough for you, he can absorb knowledge, see into dreams, and bring objects into existence. Or at least his double can. Or maybe it's just a dream. Or maybe the double only exists in dreams. Think that's confusing? That's only the first act.
There's no need confuse you further as to the film's credit, despite the weaving through chronology, genre, and reality, Coppola does create a fairly solid thematic structure. It's an old man wrestling with lost youth and human limitation, living at the edges of birth and death. What's most fascinating about Youth is that it feels like a student film, but made by a student who has lived enough to demonstrate wisdom rather than feigning it through self-indulgent pretension. And while Youth Without Youth is certainly self-indulgent, there's no pretending here.
Cinema studies professors will show the film to their students. Both the professor and the student will undoubtedly appreciate the cinematography, the confidence of Coppola's direction, and Tim Roth's performance, but they will feign understanding of the entire work. It seems like the only man who can truly appreciate this film and understand it is Francis Ford Coppola. This makes for a film that may be fascinating but ultimately unrewarding.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
11.28.07