Vacation

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2017)

Vacationing in this Swiss Alps with a film director friend, a retired music composer starts to reevaluate his life when asked by a messenger from the Queen of England to orchestrate one of his iconic works once more in this somewhat ironically titled film. Full of dreamy cutaways to the naked bodies of those staying at the same resort, as well as some near surreal nighttime shots, 'Youth' is a stylish film through and through and bits and pieces of the dialogue are pretty good, with an inspiration versus fermentation exchange standing out most. The story at hand is, however, far from encapsulating with the lethargic pacing eliminating any sense of urgency, and then there is the fact that Harvey Keitel's ageing filmmaker character is actually more interesting that Michael Caine's composer, though Paul Dano surprisingly enough trumps them both with a heartfelt turn as a film actor depressed over the fact that has been stereotyped ever since playing a single role in a film that he considers mediocre at best. He has two of the film's best scenes as he unsettles everyone by dressing as Hitler for breakfast one day and as he encounters a young girl who has actually seen one of his lesser known performances. Caine certainly has his own strong scenes (conducting a chorus of cows) but hardly that high an amount for a protagonist. With strong supporting turns from the likes of Rachel Weisz and Paloma Faith, amusingly playing herself, this is a hard film not to recommend, but it is certainly an example of movie that sounds much better on paper.