'Youth': Director Paolo Sorrentino's magic is all smoke and mirrors
If I had to nominate one director in the world as the most overrated聽right now, I would go with Paolo Sorrentino, whose egregious, overblown聽鈥淭he Great Beauty鈥� predictably won the Oscar for best foreign film. Now Sorrentino is back on the attack with 鈥淵outh,鈥� slightly less overblown but no聽less egregious.
To the extent that it鈥檚 about anything other than fancy聽camera moves, it鈥檚 about Fred Ballinger (Michael Caine), a famous聽English conductor and composer, resolutely retired, and his longtime聽friend, Mick (Harvey Keitel), a still-active American movie director. Both聽are convalescing in a Swiss Alps spa, musing over their lives and loves.聽It鈥檚 fun to see these old pros banter and harrumph, and Caine, especially,聽strikes some plangent chords. (Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda聽also turn up, underwhelmingly.)
Performances don鈥檛 seem to be primary for Sorrentino, though. He can鈥檛聽film anything without trying to turn it into a visual (and sometimes aural)聽aria, and, well, he鈥檚 no Fellini. Even Fellini was often no Fellini,聽substituting fireworks for feeling. Sorrentino is what was bad about Fellini聽without any of the master鈥檚 redeeming greatness 鈥� his comprehension of聽people and their loneliness or, at best, his cinematic wizardry. Sorrentino鈥檚聽magic is all smoke and mirrors. People calling this movie a visual feast聽must be awfully famished. Grade: C- (Rated R for graphic nudity, some sexuality, and language.)
