Customer Reviews

The Best Of Youth

5 star:		(88)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It takes some time to get into the story of this film, and the filmmakers take their time telling the story. With most films, that would be a criticism, but in this case it is a signal of what is distinctive and wonderful about this film -- easily one of the most worthwhile and compelling fictions ever created for the big screen. After about an hour and a half I was completely hooked and there was no chance I wasn't going to stay and watch both parts of this six-hour film, which is by turns touching, comic, and devastating. (It is not, by the way, that the first hour and a half are slow, but that they are designed to give you time to get to know the characters -- rest assured that the film is never boring -- unless the very idea of a subtitled film about people from another country bores you.) Liberated from the need to tell their story in a two or three hour scope, the filmmakers opted to make it not so much about a single event or action that affects the lives of a few people but about the people themselves as their lives unfold in complex and unpredictable ways in connection with the events taking place in Italy and in their families over a period of three decades: a wonderful cast of characters played by remarkable actors who show them convincingly aging and changing over the course of about thirty years. We have time to get to know them, and care about them as people, to the point where they become like family. It is hard to credit before watching this film the claims by numerous critics that after six hours they didn't want it to be over -- but in my case at the end I absolutely agreed. Though it is not strictly speaking necessary and the film already comes to a perfect conclusion -- and is probably impossible, given that the film ends in the year 2000 -- I found myself wishing there were a third part. In that sense, it is closer to television or to the novel than to most films. It is also close to television in its intimacy, told as it is mostly through closeups -- but it is wonderful to see that intimate attention to detail brought to life on the big screen. Still, for its scope and grandeur and power, and for its ability to connect intimate details to issues of extremely wide scope both historical and contemporary, it is very much a cinematic epic. There are a few moments that test the credibility of the audience -- but somehow it all works to give the kind of enjoyable and moving experience that we often seek but rarely find in the cinema. Definitely a film to see in the theaters if you get lucky enough to have the chance (Miramax has done a very poor job distributing this: holding on to it for a couple of years and then not knowing what to do with it and getting it out to only a few theaters: now it is running the College film festival circuit, so keep an eye out for it there; I got the chance to see it only because I brought it to the film series I run in Saint Petersburg, FL), but it is definitely a must when it comes out on DVD in February.

This Italian film is a masterpiece, one of the greatest works I've ever seen in my life. I'm glad I invested myself in the film when it was played in two parts at a local theater this summer. Director Marco Tullio Giordana's epic is six hours long, but attending the film was an incredibly moving and special experience. It's the story of two very different brothers, Nicola and Matteo, and how their family coped with the last 40 years of social, personal and political upheaval in Italy. The lead actors, Luigi Lo Cascio and Alessio Boni, each give powerful and believeable performances as their characters mature over 40 years. The scope of this film's story is gigantic, filled with fascinating, well-defined characters, and it never steps wrong. It has marvelous actors, a great script and beautiful cinematography. Most of my favorite movies this year featured some big quest or journey, an attempt to discover something new or find a way to grow, and THE BEST OF YOUTH featured the grandest journeys, the most interesting people, the most beautiful sites, the deepest tragedies and the most fulfilling discoveries. The act of going to the theater to see it - making two trips in two weeks - became an endeavor, and the movie rewards those who invest their time in it. This is the best movie I saw in 2005.

There have been precious few films in any language to offer the profound pleasures of Giordana's magnificent saga of life in Italy between 1966 and 2003. Centered around the lives of two brothers, Nicola and Matteo, the 6 hour running time becomes an afterthought as we follow them through the thickets of the Florence floods of 1966, the Red Brigades of the 70s, the Mafia scandals in Sicily in the 80s, up to recent times. Nicola and Matteo meet many people along the way who will affect their lives in unforgettable, and sometimes tragic, ways. Giordana's masterful direction pulls you into this story and never lets go. I've rarely been this moved and enriched by any movie, one that is supremely generous in its emotions and its enveloping wisdom. I can't recommend it highly enough and dearly hope it will be available on DVD as soon as possible.

This six-hour made-for-TV movie is a drama about a middle class Italian family that covers over 35 years of modern Italian history. Its central characters are two brothers of different temperaments, whose lives take very different paths. The overall message of the film, that life is beautiful, is played out against beautifully photographed travelogue footage that ranges from Turin to Palermo, with side trips to Norway, and a cast of often strikingly photogenic performers. More important, the film's dramatic conflicts, which hold our interest over the length of six hours, include a political dimension as one of the many characters becomes involved in a radical leftist cell, whose mission is to target and assassinate members of the professional and academic elite. The film has been praised for its refusal to simply sensationalize its subject but to humanize all those affected (would-be assassin, potential victim, and police inspector) and represent them with some psychological truth rather than stereotyping them.

During the course of the film, a new generation emerges to soften the harsher legacy of recent history and to demonstrate that if life is beautiful it is in its returning promise that the failures of the past need not discourage our hopes for the future. While all of the cast bring to life characters that are plausibly real, the performance of Alessio Boni as the darkly tormented brother Matteo is a standout. The music score ranges from pop music and jazz of the 1960s to haunting compositions by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. It's been a long while since we've seen really great cinema from Italy. May this be the beginning of a new wave.

I guess that's the easiest way I could sum this movie up: It's a movie about life. Sounds a bit plain, doesn't it?

The Best of Youth, though, is anything but plain and boring. It tells the story of a family in Italy from the 1960's all the way into the year 2000. As you can imagine, alot happens in 40 years: floods, riots, people die, are born, part ways, meet new friends and so forth.

But what really drew me into this 6 hour masterpiece were the characters. There are no heroes, there are no anti-heroes--just people, like you and me. The story of Matteo and Nicola could be any one of us.

Speaking of characters, I haven't been this attached to the characters since I last watched an episode of Friends. The actors don't play their parts, they ARE their parts. If I saw the actor who played Matteo on the streets of Italy, I would be like, "Hey, it's Matteo!" The acting was THAT good. You'll go through a full spectrum of emotions with them throughout the course of this film.

As for the pace of the movie, it takes a while to get to know the characters, the setting, but after about an hour you'll feel comfortable with it all. The plot twists are scattered and generously spaced, making them happen at just the right moment without feeling forced. I have to admit that some of the plot twists may not be anything new or innovative (alot of the plot twists you could see on any given day on a Soap Opera), but the whole of the movie is so well done you won't be able to care less. There are so many powerful and moving scenes in this movie--I'd love to tell them to you, but then I'd ruin your experience, wouldn't I?

I can tell you one I liked, though:

There is a scene in this movie where one of the characters says, "I don't believe in exclamation points." Let me tell you, this is a GREAT movie, and I do believe in exclamation points!!!

La Meglio gioventù (THE BEST OF YOUTH) is a spellbinding drama that sweeps the viewer through Italian history from 1966 through 2003 as distilled in the lives of one family. Writers Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli have created a screenplay that is both informative to those of us who did not live this period in Italian political disturbance and simultaneously passionate in the creation of a group of people surrounding two brothers who propel the story with heartrending power.

Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and Matteo (Alessio Boni) are brothers in Rome in the Carati family - mother Adriana (Adriana Asti), father Angelo (Andrea Tidona) and sisters Francesca (Valentina Carnelutti) and Giovanna (Lidia Vitale). Nicola and Matteo are devoted to each other despite their polarity of differences in personalities and beliefs. With their childhood friends Carlo (Fabrizio Gifuni) and Vitale (Claudio Gioè) they begin their an adventure of travel to the northern regions of the globe, but Nicola and Matteo encounter and rescue a young abused girl Giorgia (Jasmine Trinca) who is confined in an asylum, a pause for humanity reasons that alters their lives forever. Matteo joins the military and then the police force while Nicola travels to Norway to work as a hippie laborer. He returns to Italy after the flood of Florence, and meets Giulia (Sonia Bergamasco) a talented piano player who sympathizes with the Red Brigade of socialism. Matteo, as an angry rebel spirit travels to Sicily where he encounters and encourages photographer Mirella (Maya Sansa). Due in part to his devotion to Giorgia's plight, Nicola becomes a psychiatrist. These four main characters then are the keys to the story which lives through the myriad terrorist political upheavals in Italy during that forty year period but also demonstrate the profound effect that family and friendship have on shaping the destinies of all concerned.

Of course the story is far richer than this brief synopsis (the film is after all over six hours long!) and it is conducted like a symphony by the gifted director Marco Tullio Giordana. Originally screened as a television miniseries in Italy, the six hourly episodes are seamlessly joined for the award winning theatrical release and the result the film is a drama that stirs every emotion in the human spirit. It boasts brilliant cinematography by Roberto Forza and a musical score that is fine pastiche of works by Bach, Georges Delerue, Mozart, Astor Piazzolla, and Giovanni Sollima. The cast succeeds in brandishing talent so deeply embedded in their characters that each becomes part of the viewers' psyche. This is a stunning film, one that once seen will probably find its way into the permanent film libraries of those who appreciate great cinematic art. An exceptional visual and emotional experience. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 06

I have not written a review for Amazon in at least three years, but having seen The Best of Youth (La meglio gioventu') I find myself wanting to write a review again. I have taken on an almost messianic role in sharing the beauty that is this film. I've rented it at the video store and lent it to family, colleagues and friends. I've watched it alone, and then was compelled to watch it again with my wife. I still struggle to understand why this film is so beautiful, moving and engaging. I can only say that it is all those things and more. I have no doubt that the haunting soundtrack, and the notes of Astor Piazzolla's 'Oblivion' in particular, contibute to the film's impact; in fact the use of music in this film (as is the case in most Italian cinematic productions) is very well done. I thought that the film affected me in a particular way because I was born in the very same period that the film begins, and so I have witnessed most of the film's historical background events, right down to a drive in an green Alfa Romeo Giulia ti (makes an appearance in the film), which was the first car I remember being my father driving. However, I have heard and witnessed people having no such direct experiences, not speaking Italian for that matter, being just as moved as I was by this film. It must be the exceptional and intelligent dialogue. Brilliant insights that apply to everyone, without being pedantic or critical. It is the photography (in spite of TV budget meakeup, but really, who cares when the rest is so good?, the scenery, and perhaps the personal humanity of the actors themesleves, Luigi lo Cascio 'in primis' who can be so funny at the most unexpected moments. In fact, I feel sorry for non-Italian speakers who miss the comic - but well timed and executed - intonations of various Italian accents by Lo Cascio's character, Nicola Carati. He also gets the most memorable lines. two of the best occur when a sarcastic Nicola criticizes Giulia's emerging political fanaticism and then in a quiet chat with his daughter, when he tells her that it is important to be generous when life is treating you well. I'm writing thsi review, and I should be working, so I have not dealt with the subject to the extent I wanted; however, I hope that I conveyed my enthusiasm for this film, a film that has affected me like no other. teh one regret is that after seeing this film, nothing else will move you as much and most films even good ones will leave you longing for the mix of emotions that only 'The Best of Youth' can offer. It is that good.

Winner of the Jury prize at the Cannes film festival and recipient of glowing reviews everywhere, I decided to take in this Italian family saga over much more flashy fare like Transporter 2, The Cave, A Sound of Thunder, The Dukes of Hazzard, etc. Was I happy with my choice? Absolutely.

The Best of Youth, Part 1, is a three hour epic, based on the lives of Matteo and Nicola Carati, two brothers who we first meet in 1966. Matteo works in an aylum and becomes smitten with a beautiful young patient, Giorgia. He shows his medical student brother photos that he took of her and they discover scars, most likely from excessive eletro-shock therapy. Concerned for her well being, they sneak her out and go on a road trip to find her father. This alone could make for an interesting film, but in the scope of his epic, it's only a small part.

Matteo and Nicola were supposed to meet up with some friends to travel to Norway. After freeing Giorgia from the asylum, they become side tracked and go their separate ways...Nicola the free sprit, to Norway, Matteo, the brooding introspect, back to Rome.

When we first see Matteo, he looks like David Cassidy from the Partridge Family, except with shorter hair. In most of the scenes, he seems to be dark and mysterious, with a wicked temper. It's as if something is constantly eating away at him and he's unable to find peace. He's attracted to the military and the becomes a Riot Policeman, because he loves rules and order. Even as a policeman, his constantly simmering anger gets him in hot water. Nicola, in contrast, is more easy going, and leans more to the left. His life isn't care-free, though. He becomes married to an activist university student, who seems to dislike being a mother and is clearly preoccupied, behind her husband's back, with intense leftist politics and activities...

We see big events that shape the history of Italy from the 60s onwards and how our two main characters are involved, affected and react differently. This is only Part 1. Part 2 shows at Cinemateque later in September.

Director Marco Tullio Giordana has scored a home run. Had this been a US film, this would easily be talked about as Oscar material. You are constantly watching to see what will happen next and unlike most mainstream Hollywood fare, you get a sense that you are watching a story unfold and want to see where it is going. Most Hollywood films can be figured out within the first hour, if not eariier.

There are no stars who I recognize, but if anything, that's one less distraction. The acting is first rate. The audience appeared to be mostly older folks, possibly of Italian heritage. They laughed a lot at the unique Italian mannerisms and dialogue but this film definitely has a universal appeal. They also applauded at the end.

This is a very watchable film and I look forward to seeing Part 2, and then buying the whole thing on DVD someday. Easily in my top ten films of the year.

All 368 minutes of it.

I found this film to be wholly absorbing. At first, I needed a bit of time to get the characters sorted out, but, before I knew it, I was totally captivated, staying up all night to finish the first disk and feeling frustrated that I would have to wait until the next evening to play the second one.

"The Best of Youth" relates the saga of an Italian family. It follows the protagonists----two brothers and their friends----over a period of forty years, from the late sixties to the year 2000. The story, which begins and ends with a journey, takes the viewer on an odyssey that covers the length of Italy and Sicily and is played out against the background of some of the most turbulent events that shook that nation during the late twentieth century: revelations about the scandalous treatment of the mentally ill; the flood in Florence; the Red Brigade terrorists; Tangentopoli (Payola in High Places); and the horrendous judicial assassinations in Sicily by the Mafia.

The film, however, is no downer. One comes to care deeply for all the characters, laughing and crying with them. The story, furthermore, takes unpredictable turns, maintaining the suspense until the very end, which I did not want to come. The fact that Italy provides the splendid locations is a bonus.

If this be Italophilia, make the most of it!

Most of you interested in watching this film will shy away because of it's 6-hrs running time. But once you start watching this great masterpiece from Italy, you'll forget about time and won't think of this film as 6 hours long but 6 hours deep. Because of it's length, the film takes us through this novel-like story where unpredictable circumstances happen to the characters and the story. After watching this film, other great films might seem like short stories while this a novel. It is simply amazing to watch a film and care the same for every character in the film, the cast was superb in this film. If you love movies, and don't simply watch movies for entertainment but also for their art then this movie is highly recommended.