Cineastes will look at Top Ten lists from critics around
the world not only to make sure they have a grasp on the most notable
titles of the year, but to find a couple of gems that may have passed
them by. This writer voraciously consumes Top Ten lists from the
weekend after Thanksgiving well into the new year, scribbling down
titles I’ve never heard of and ensuring that each of my already
relatively healthy year long film going includes some worthy under-
the-radar titles. For 2005, the film on multiple Top Ten
lists that no one outside the inner circles of independent film had
cognizance of was Marco Tullio Giordana’s The Best of
Youth, a coming-of-age picture set in Italy during the tumultuous
and history-making second half of the 20th century. We follow two
brothers as they experience all the political and social dynamism of
Italian culture from different sides of the spectrum. Nicola (Luigi Lo
Cascio) is a psychiatrist with a hippie bent. Matteo (Alessio Boni) is
a cop with a mean streak; its effect on both their lives and Italy
around them is pivotal to the film.
The immediate question
one asks oneself when watching an under-represented film like this one
is, “Why wasn’t it a bigger deal?” What was it about
The Best of Youth that kept it from a Best Foreign Film
nomination at the Oscars? Or from a more expansive art-house run? (The
film basically played on the coasts and with few exceptions, hardly
made it into the heartland.)
First of all, the damned thing
is the better part of six hours long, having ben originally made for
Italian television. When The Best of Youth took home the
Un certain regard trophy at the Cannes Film Festival, it
behooved Miramax to avoid sequestering the ambitious work to DVD or
pay-cable (a la HBO or Showtime); instead, they gave it a shot in art
houses. But even with extensive critical accolades, the six-hour
The Best of Youth is a tough, tough sell. And as far as
Oscars go, I’m no expert, but I’m assuming that if a film
was originally broadcast on television, it is disqualified from the
Academy Awards’ strict competition.
In any case, I
had been exceptionally excited about diving into The Best of
Youth and was relatively ecstatic when DVDfile threw a screener
my way. However, it did not live up to my expectations of it. How
could it?
The filmmaking is decidedly old-fashioned and
simple. Giordana’s camera is either notably static or moves with
the predictable, redundant sweeping motions found in most television
melodramas. For example, a shot will begin on an inanimate object and
then pan to a close-up of a character’s face. And the editing
style is straight out of 1980s Europe: straightforward and
explanatory.
This is what I feel The Best of
Youth is desperately missing. Where other coming-of-age stories
are able to blend their melodramatic inter-relations with a sturdily
robust sense of aesthetic from behind-the-camera, this film is far too
plain for its own good. It’s impossible not to get moderately
swept up in the characters’ lives; like any above-average TV
miniseries, once you’ve invested three hours, you’re bound
to stay with it. Alas, The Best of Youth may have the
potential to be a staggering achievement, but it never lives up to its
own noteworthy pedigree.
What we’re left with is a
loving, elegiac look at Italy’s rough-and-tumble modern era that
has no artistic bite. The Best of Youth has all the markings
of an honest-to-goodness emotional epic, but it relies on cinematic
simplicity far too often than it should. Compared to the rat-a-tat
films of 2005 – consider Munich, King Kong, or even
Good Night, and Good Luck – this writer can definitely
see why so many critics found it to be a breath of fresh air. But as
its own creation, The Best of Youth, as solid a film as it
is, disappoints because of its inability (or lack of desire) to do as
much with its style and aesthetic cinematic fortitude as it does with
its source material.
The Video: How Does The Disc
Look?
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of
The Best of Youth on this 2-DVD edition is quite lovely.
Black levels are most impressive; they’re both supple and
consistent throughout the entire six-hour film. Color accuracy and
definition are crisp and without haze. Finely grained detail is also
impressive. There are no real issues with grain or flaws with the
transfer print. Wonderful.
The Audio: How Does The
Disc Sound?The Italian stereo mix on this DVD
edition is less impressive than its visual counterpart, but not worth
complaining about. There’s not much of a musical score, but when
the rock and roll hits du jour dominate the soundtrack, they are
presented with excellent fidelity and placement. Dialogue sounds fine,
as well, and the occasional atmospheric effects are placed nicely
within the front channels. A little more aural room might have been
nice, but again, this was made for TV, and this is often what TV
sounds like.
Also included are a French stereo track,
English and Spanish subtitles, and English Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?None.
Final Thoughts
I don’t mean to heap criticism on The Best of Youth
simply because it’s not as mythic or under-appreciated as many
film reviewers have stated, but this writer found himself
disappointed. Although the lack of extras is unfortunate, the video
and sound mixes are just about as good as one could hope. So if you
are one of the viewers who found The Best of Youth to be an
inimitable viewing experience, a respectable DVD release awaits
you.
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