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Youth Without Youth

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Tim Roth

Alexandra Maria Lara

Bruno Ganz

André Hennicke

Marcel Iureș

Adrian Pintea

Florin Piersic Jr.

Zoltan Butuc

Anamaria Marinca

Alexandra Pirici

Mircea Albulescu

Dan Aştileanu

Cristian Balint

Dragoș Bucur

Ana Ularu

Theodor Danetti

Roxana Guttman

Andrei Gheorghe

Dorina Lazăr

Rodica Lazăr

Mihai Niculescu

Andi Vasluianu

Adriana Titieni

Mirela Oprișor

Rudy Rosenfeld

Răzvan Popa

Alexandru Repan

Bogdan Dumitrescu

Lucian Iancu

Alexandru Bindea

Dan Badarau

Mircea Stoian

Cristi Iacob

Ionuţ Cucoară

Fabio Scialpi

Georgiana Mazilescu

Nicodim Ungureanu

Sorin Mihai Vasilescu

Nicoleta Lefter

Gabi Calinescu

Ionut Stana

Alexandru Sabău

Anton Mihail Hodorog

Hansell Campos

Adrian Horobet

Oana Marian

Adriana Rotaru

Florin Kevorkian

Matt Damon

Francis Ford Coppola

Mihai Malaimare Jr.

Mircea Eliade

Anahid Nazarian

Fred Roos

Walter Murch

Osvaldo Golijov

Roman Coppola

Michael Pärt

Călin Papură

Pete Horner

Gloria Papura

Michal Křeček

Cristina Tirulnic

Peter Swords King

Adi Popa

Mihai Bogos

Corina Stavilă

Sean Cullen

Masa Tsuyuki

Doina Dragnea

Anatol Reghintovschi

Karen Lindsay-Stewart

Mircea Onisoru

Ruxandra Ionică

Radu Rosu

Doru Vlad

Gabriel Bucur

Adi Iancu

Dora Somova

Marius Trandafir

Octavian Dragulin

Batranu Dan Ciprian

Dumitru Papa

Bogdan Coconoiu

Adina Bucur

Mariana Pall

Carmen Moldovan

Ana Maria Lazar

Tereza Radu

Mihaela Istoc

Dana Roșeanu

Domnica Sava

Craita Nanu

Vladimir Anton

Oana Ene

Crina Constantinescu

Marian Moldoveanu

Iulian Pana

Adrian Codoi

Ioana Stoica

Ilie Georgica

Bogdan Talpeanu

Cos Aelenei

Marius Bercu

Marian Duca

Stefan Stefanovschi

Alex Cosma

Anton Costescu

Paul Ticu

Matei Mircea

Jennifer Furches

Liliana Toma

Razvan Secara

Ruxandra Comsa

Raluca Mateescu

Mircea Raschitor

Ioana Ofileanu

Liviu Popescu

Alexandru Ungureanu

Andrei Ciubotaru

Razvan Puiu

Octavian Golgot

Daniel Parvulescu

Doru Cretu

Kevin N. Bailey

Andrei Dăscălescu

Kálmán Balogh

Kayhan Kalhor

Michael Ward-Bergeman

Radu Popa

Attila Tõzsér

Viorel Dobre

Alexandru Dragomir

John Nutt

Vadim Staver

Victor Panfilov

Vít Komrzý

David Váňa

Equal parts fascinating, entertaining, beautiful, inscrutable, contrived and tedious

RELEASED IN 2007, "Youth Without Youth" was Francis Ford Coppola's return to filmmaking after a ten-year absence. The story revolves around a 70 year-old man (Tim Roth) in Romania at the outset of WWII who is struck by lightning and miraculously regains his youth, looking like a 40 year-old man. He acquires amazing powers as well, like psycho-kinesis and the ability to "read" a book by "scanning" it with his mind. The Nazi's catch wind of his amazing evolution and want to study him to contribute to the “master race” (or whatever). The second half of the film takes place after the war years when the man finds a woman who looks like a young version of his deceased love (Alexandra Maria Lara). Incredibly, she too is struck by lightning with differing results and it aids in his research on the origins of languages.

The plot brings to mind two films from the mid-90s that also address people with fascinating powers: "Powder" and "Phenomenon." The latter was decent whereas the former shot for greatness and in some ways attained it. "Youth Without Youth" is completely different in tone, mostly due to the WWII time-frame, but also because it's less of a wannabe blockbuster and more artsy and nigh unfathomable.

It has been said that "Youth Without Youth" was an intensely personal project for Coppola. The topic, based on the novel by Mircea Eliade, resonated with him and he was driven to convey it on film. You get the impression that Coppola had discovered the answer to the mysteries of life and wanted to share it with the world.

Think about it: Coppola is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and he had a full decade to conceive, prepare, make and release a film. He could've churned out blockbuster drivel like the "Transformers" movies (not that there's anything wrong with that, lol), but as a true artist he's beyond caring about creating popular popcorn fare and the "success" thereof. It brings to mind Willard's observations about Col. Kurtz (Brando) in Coppola's renowned "Apocalypse Now" (1979): "He could've gone for general, but he went for himself instead." Francis could've gone for mindless and lucrative entertainment, but he had something more important in mind.

So "Youth Without Youth" is a work of art, and certainly interesting and entertaining in some ways, but it requires willingness and effort to handle the 124 minutes runtime. It is a dense film, loaded with depth; it may even hold the secrets to life itself! Beyond that, it features some beautiful cinematography, music and women.

Speaking of the women, I found it curious that women are shown to be universally attracted to Dominic, the main character played by Roth. After all, Roth is short and hardly a George Clooney. But then I reflected on it and accepted it. Why? Because women have a sort of sixth sense, typically called "women's intuition,” where they see or sense things beyond the physical. In other words, Dominic had highly evolved and was, in essence, a superior human being. He may not have been an Adonis, but women instinctively picked up on his evolutionary superiority and drew to him like a magnet.

Another plus are the locations, shot in Romania and Bulgaria with establishing shots of the Himalayas and India.

Needless to say, this is a difficult film to rate. If you're in the mood for conventional cinematic entertainment "Youth Without Youth" won't fill the bill even though there are several entertaining elements (the aforementioned cinematography, music, women and locations); but if you're looking for cinematic art and weighty mind food it's an "A." As such, my balanced rating is...

GRADE: B-

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Youth Without Youth

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Cast

Tim Roth

Alexandra Maria Lara

Bruno Ganz

André Hennicke

Marcel Iureș

Adrian Pintea

Florin Piersic Jr.

Zoltan Butuc

Anamaria Marinca

Alexandra Pirici

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