Youth (2015)

Youth Movie Review

Youth is a 2015 drama film directed by Paolo Sorrentino and starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel. It is one of the most annoying and boring films of the year.

It is about two friends who reflect on their lives while holidaying in the Swiss Alps. As with any Sorrentino flick, there is absolutely no story or point to be had here whatsoever. What we get is some nice scenery and pretentious dialogue. Yes, the dialogue annoyed me so much as it basically consists of annoying, old, rich people who just complain about everything and do not ever say anything that is remotely interesting or impactful. Their conversations frustrated me.

And those characters are all just so incredibly irritating. Not one of them was even a bit interesting or likable to me. Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel give solid performances, but I was never a fan of either of those actors and I certainly did not find them likable here.

The only positive aspect in Youth is most certainly its scenery. It is always beautiful to watch and the Swiss Alps are just gorgeous to behold. There are some visually interesting sequences here and there as well. But most of those scenes are “artistic” and just pretentious. The whole film is like that – pretentious and annoying. The directing is problematic as usual and I strongly dislike Sorrentino’s direction as I also found ‘The Great Beauty’ to be incredibly overrated and annoying. He basically copies the style of Fellini and never has anything authentic in his movies.

It is also so slow paced to the point of being a chore to sit through. It is one of the dullest films of the year and I was so bored from beginning to end. It has that leisurely pace that is irritating instead of being pleasant and the movie never has any sort of structure or message or point in it. It just consists of various tedious characters complaining and moaning about their past interspersed with some odd imagery and a great scenery. And that is this movie in a nutshell. Needless to say, it is very overrated and I strongly dislike the director’s work.

Youth is such an annoying movie. It has a typically irritating style of Sorrentino which basically consists of various incredibly irritating people complaining about their past mixed with some odd imagery and a great scenery. It is such a boring and pretentious movie.

My Rating – 2