Youth Without Youth (2007)

Youth Without Youth is a purposely odd movie. An old man becomes a young man and encounters a variety of people. There is a general story arc, but it all feels rather episodic. There are some clever moments, but overall it seems to go on and on without getting anywhere.Watching the movie made me curious about the novella it's based on, perhaps because its structure seems more conducive to literature. I don't know if the book is any good, but I could see a book within the movie that has potential.I think the problem is, the movie sits on the fence between storytelling and dreamlike mystery. And because it never commits to either, it does both poorly. I see here that responses to this film are all over the map, and that's not surprising. The enigmatic approach will always appeal to some people. But for me the film felt like a half enigma that never engaged me, even though it was just curious enough to keep me discontentedly watching until the end.

I thought this film really presented in two parts, the first half was engaging and as usual Tim Roth holds the imagination. However in the second half of the film it seemed to loose its way a little, I struggled to get where it was going. Despite an interest in the themes represented and an understanding of the philosophy and religious concepts addressed I really struggled to engage with the plot/story. I will watch this again because I know there are depths to be mined. However i was left feeling disappointed. I stayed with the film but found it increasingly difficult to feel for the characters as it progressed. Too many concepts interwoven with out sufficient meaning. Way better than most productions and worth a watch but don't expect too much.

i didn't see it all, and it was on a TV screen too, and it was late at night, and i was a little tired after another long days work, but for the first time in years i was transfixed and spellbound by cinema. as it should be. transfixed and spellbound. i forgot how tired i was, i forgot everything, i was so moved by it. first and foremost i saw a love film. and i would suggest i saw the director, as well, through this. a message from him and others about what is important in life, in the final analysis. if you ever read this, those involved in making this enthralling production, there is an old literary novel that, in my humble opinion, you have the sensitivity to portray...

In "Youth Without Youth," the protagonist, Dominic Matei, quite literally, gets a second lease on life. Dominic is a frail man of seventy when, on Easter morning in 1938, he is struck by lightning while crossing a street in Bucharest. But rather than dying or being forever disfigured, Dominic undergoes an amazing transformation as a result of his experience - sort of his own resurrection into eternal life: for he not only returns to the body he had when he was in his 30s (think of this as a kind of "17 Again" with substance), but he develops the mental acuity and telekinetic powers of a "superman" as well. This is quite a boon for an ambitious writer whose primary goal in life has been to survive long enough to complete a comprehensive and exhaustive work on human language and consciousness. Yet, as his mental faculties increase at an ever-accelerating rate, Dominic's life becomes a dizzying and eventually undifferentiated blur of reality and hallucinations, dreams and memories. Soon, the Nazis have made him an object of "study," determined to use him as a guinea pig in their efforts to create a "master race." But that's only half the story, which extends well into the late 1960s, with Dominic holding onto his eternal youth at virtually every step of the drama.Impeccably produced, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, "Youth Without Youth" is a fascinating mixture of war time drama, unrequited love story, psychological study, ancient and primordial mysticism and sci-fi fantasy. The screenplay, based on the story by Romanian writer Mircea Eliade, provides plenty of food for thought for those willing to dig into its deeper themes of time and the through-line of human history, and a feast for those who like a challenging story, solidly constructed and solidly told. The structure is admittedly episodic in nature, but it's only because the movie is utterly unafraid of veering off into intriguing and wholly unexpected paths when it feels the need to do so. This keeps the movie perpetually fresh and the audience thoroughly intrigued from first frame to last. It isn't important that the movie make perfect sense at, every moment; what's crucial is that we be willing to put ourselves in the hands of the filmmakers for the time it takes to tell their story - to go where they want to take us. And those places are fascinating.Tim Roth carries the film with his beautifully understated embodiment of a man trying desperately to understand his place in the world, and Alexandra Maria Lara is heartbreaking as the loving, troubled young woman with similar issues who briefly joins him on his journey.With its enigmatic storytelling and its refusal to spell everything out in simplistic terms for a spoon-fed audience, "Youth Without Youth" risks alienating a large segment of the ticket-buying public. But for all those with an appreciation for the novel and the unique, "Youth Without Youth" is an unheralded gem to be reveled in and savored.