The Best of Youth

Man, this 6 hour Italian drama gives soap opera a very good name. Saw the film at this year's Singapore International Film Festival, whose organisers were thankfully intuitive enough to endeavour such challenging programming.

Best of youth's sprawling, epic scale depiction of love, familial ties and the strength which friendship binds, were assuredly interspersed into those 6 hours. The sweeping grandeur of its scope never overshadows the intimacy of its finely detailed characterisation. The subtle shifting of focus between characters (before unveiling the true lead character in the end) also proved to be intriguingly fruitful for the attentive audience.

The screening time hence becomes a non-issue, for it genuinely felt like a sumptuous breeze. In fact, I'm pretty sure the captivated audience on that fateful night of screening could go on for another 3 hours. Such is the allure of good story telling.

In summation, Best of youth boasts of good story, excellent performances, well placed "Godfather" references and beautiful people for the restless(if any) to ogle at. What more can a film geek (erm, me) ask for?

Fantastic movie. Go hunt for it.

No, the number of minutes is no typo. This film is over six and a half hours long. But as Roger Ebert says, "I dropped outside of time and was carried along by the narrative flow; when the film was over, I had no particular desire to leave the theater, and would happily have stayed another three hours." Of course, I was watching in the comfort of my home but I agree completely with Mr. Ebert.

The narrative covers the years 1966 through 2003 and focuses primarily upon the older brother of a middle class Italian family. As it begins, the two brothers of the family are ready to pursue college education as an avenue to successful careers. The younger of them is volunteering at a local mental facility as a walker - a companion for patients who need to explore the world outside the institution. He finds that the girl he accompanies is being mistreated and more or less kidnaps her in an attempt to return her to her father's home. In this effort he seeks the help of his brother and the two embark upon an idealistic quest to return the girl to the love and safety of her home. The unhappy result of their venture changes the outlooks of both and sets them on paths which diverge from their original plans. Each chooses a new course which is in conflict with his basic personality. The older brother, who had been practical in all of his previous projects, finds himself diving into an alternative culture, whereas the younger, who had been more footloose, joins the military and eventually becomes a policeman. The encounters of both during the almost forty year span of the film gives us many insightful "what ifs" of two lives and reminds us of the enormous effect sheer chance has upon each of us.

If you are familiar with the Italian political climate and events during the era of this film, your enjoyment will be heightened , but even someone as politically innocent as I had no trouble understanding the conflicts of the major characters that come from diverging ideologies. (I can probably be pretty much assured that if you are a HSC "regular" you are well versed in the politics of Italy in the latter part of the Twentieth Century.) This film has a great "feel" to it in that it doesn't fall into the trap of being overly melodramatic, which is often the bent of films that span long periods of time. I was left with a good feeling at the end but it arose from having viewed the triumphs and tragedies of a very believable family, a family whose members change and grow as a result of their experience of life just as happens in all families no matter their geographic location.

As for geographic location, the viewer of this film is treated to many memorable scenes of Italy from the grit of the city to the blissful pleasures of the islands. The experience is one of a resident of the country rather than a tourist who only has privy to a gossamer view.

If you enjoy excellent film-making and a good story, I have no doubt that you will also be "carried along by the narrative flow" just as Mr. Ebert and I can guarantee you that you will enjoy the ride.

Having just returned at 2 am from a festival showing of the movie that started at 5:30, I still can think of nothing but looking for anything and everything about this exceptional film that I came across more or less by accident. I can only sum up two points: it is an excellent yet easy-going overview of recent Italian history, and a truly moving, in an unbanal and unstereotypical, unpopcorny way, movie about the value of friendship, closeness, family. This film makes you want to live, to cherish the people you love and to be aware of the consequences of your acts. City living makes sour cynics out of teenage optimists (I'd count myself in until now), and this one is a lesson of keeping the best of yourself throughout life. A true inspiration! Bravo.

I waste a lot of time reviewing cute but rubbishy science fiction and horror films on this site. I'm a bit out of practice with watching, and critiquing, actual drama! But of course, I still realize that the key to great drama is the characters - and they make this epic Italian miniseries-turned-movie work, and work beautifully at that.

"The Best of Youth" focuses on various members of the Carati family and their friends, advancing from the 1960s to the near-present as it chronicles their lives in the context of social turmoil in Italy as a whole. For the most part, the story never drags, and every single character is compelling and sympathetic.

Many of the character have flaws, but they're not bad people - just complex. Many tragic things happen, but the film never wallows in misery, except on one wholly justified occasion. Moral conflicts are explored not in black-and-white, but in shades of grey. In other words, "The Best of Youth" is rich with the kind of warmth, complexity and subtle nuances that you tend to miss in most American dramas - even the ones that win Oscars.

I won't spoil the plot, really - I'll just say that both of the main characters, brothers Matteo and Nicola Carati, are charismatic and cool and well worth six hours of screen time. They're also very different, which keeps things interesting.

Are there any significant flaws here? Nah, not really. My interest waned a bit during some segments, particularly the historical ones that aren't explained that well. There's also a bit of cheesy makeup and blue screen, but that can be excused because this is really a TV production, as I understand it, not a big movie. Besides, I sort of love production flaws. They're fun, aren't they?

On a totally pointless note, I'd like to mention a strange plus of "The Best of Youth" - much of the cast is totally gorgeous. Guys and gals alike have reason to rejoice here...

One final random thought. While I'm glad that "The Best of Youth" was distributed and well-received in the U.S., I'm annoyed that it was publicized as being "like the Godfather" or "like the works of Scorcese." It's nothing like the Godfather, it's nothing like Scorcese. The marketers seemed to have believed, unfortunately, that U.S. audiences are only interested in Italian criminals, not normal Italian people. This sort of irritates me. (Note my surname and you'll figure out why!) But such concerns have nothing to do with the actual movie, which is pretty much flawless.

It's hard not to feel like an "easy" grader to give this film a 10, given that it is the very simple story of a family over 4 decades, no quirky writing or the eccentricities of "indie" films - just beautiful scenery, characters that move us and that we care about, and a sweet and believable story. The acting is excellent.

To say this is a miniseries is misleading and adds the impression of a "cheese" factor that is not present. There is a reason that this film has been taken from the small screen and released in theaters - I didn't even know it had been a miniseries until I read some of the comments here.

The story is simple but it is not trite; we may not have a huge number of surprises and no amazing plot twists and contortions but it is an emotional, moving, satisfying story.

The most moving part of the story is the love and connectedness between the characters, and how this is expressed - here in the U.S. physical display of platonic affection is virtually non-existent, unless you count athletes hitting each other on the rear. You can tell these characters really care for each other.

I sat for the second three hours today with people who sat through the first three hours with me yesterday. Some yesterday just got back in line for part 2. There was a line waiting to get in today - all people who had seen part 1 already.

Saying this movie is like Zelig as someone here did is false and insulting. We couldn't tell a story about a U.S. family that spans the 60's to the present without mentioning Viet Nam or Watergate or 9/11, so this story of course mentions events internal to Italy during that time. The historical events are a backdrop to the story, not the story itself.

The story is about this family, and we care about what happens to them. We become engaged, we sit and watch and laugh and cry with them. That's what movies are supposed to do.