/Youth (2015).jpg)
/Youth (2015)2.jpg)
/Youth.jpg)
Youth
- Director: Paolo Sorrentino
- Writer: Paolo Sorrentino
- Producer: Carlotta Calori; Francesca Cima
CGiii Comment
This has everything you would ever want from a film...
And yet, it seems to have slipped under the 'gay' radar...for this is a story about a gay man in his twilight.
A life of success, regret and beauty.
No matter how old your are...the youth still plays in your head.
Sorrentino has delivered a work of philosophical finesse...the dialogue is dense, droll and didactic...yes, everyone can learn from their elders.
These rich words have, quite possibly, enabled Michael Caine to give the finest performance of his rich career...at 82. What does that say about age?!?
This a wondrous window...wealthy with eccentricity, rich with ridiculousness...Keitel is the perfect side-kick, Dano is ripe as the old man in a young man's body...the masseuse, she's not of this planet...and, Weisz, poised and perfect.
Look...if we can't laugh at ourselves, at those ancient wrong choices, those maddening wrong turns...then, what hope do we have?
The message is clear, the message is power: You are never too old to grab the bull by its horns...or, to forgive.
Watch.
A wonder.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children's confused lives, Mick's enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Michael Caine stars as retired musical conductor Fred who is on vacation at a luxury resort with his daughter/assistant Lena when her husband leaves her. As Fred tries to console her, Lena spurns his offer with a rant about the ways Fred hurt her mother, including a mention of “experimenting with homosexuality” when he was younger. As Fred never references this in reflections on his own life, but mentions several female love interests, GLAAD did not count this character in its final tally.
Mentioned but not counted!?! Did you actually watch the film?!? He's bisexual...with definite leanings towards the gay!!!
Cast & Characters
Michael Caine as Fred Ballinger;
Harvey Keitel as Mick Boyle;
Rachel Weisz as Lena Ballinger;
Paul Dano as Jimmy Tree;
Jane Fonda as Brenda Morel;
Mark Kozelek as Himself;
Robert Seethaler as Luca Moroder;
Alex Macqueen as Queen's Emissary;
Luna Zimic Mijovic as Young Masseuse;
Tom Lipinski as Screenwriter in Love;
Chloe Pirrie as Girl Screenwriter;
Alex Beckett as Intellectual Screenwriter;
Nate Dern as Funny Screenwriter;
Mark Gessner as Shy Screenwriter;
Paloma Faith as Herself