Following up The Great Beauty, writer/director Paolo Sorrentino gives up Fellini for something pretty different. (Michael Caine looks like a Tony Servillo stand-in, though.) I, for the life of me, cannot decide if it is a masterpiece or a disaster-piece.
Consider the title, Youth. In a film dominated by the elderly, Youth somehow finds a style that works for it. It's wise, funny, and sometimes mournful. It's the movie's greatest strength.
Michael Caine is dazzling as Fred Ballinger, a retired orchestra composer and conductor spending a holiday at a Swiss spa. With him is Harvey Keitel as legendary film writer/director Mick Boyle, working on his "testament" after a string of flops.
