A wonderful movie

Rating: 9/10 (8 February 2016)

To say that Youth is a little odd would be a bit of an understatement. But not odd in a bad way , odd in a very , very good way. I absolutely loved this film. This is the story of a retired orchestra conductor ( Michael Caine) on holiday in a lavish retreat with his daughter and his film director best friend ( Harvey Keitel) in the Alps when he receives an invitation from the Queen to perform for Prince Philip's birthday. In all honesty this isn't really about the invitation , it's about getting old and how you reflect on life so differently than when you are younger. This looks fantastic . Sure it can be classed as a bit arty but director Paolo Sorrentino hasn't gone over the top with it instead he has got Michael Caine , to produce one of the best screen performance I have ever seen him perform. There are a few surreal moments that don't quite fit , like the cameo from Paloma Faith which seems to have been shoehorned into the film just to get her on screen but on the other hand I loved the scene with a fat Diego Maradona doing keepy uppies with a tennis ball. This won't be everyone's bag but it got me big time.