I'm sorry to be doing this, and I won't blame you if you disregard my review because of it, but I'm basing my comments only on the first half of this six-hour film.
Expecting much from this acclaimed and obviously beloved made-for-Italian-television miniseries, I instead finished the first half absolutely mystified at what people are responding to. The movie follows the stories of two very different but very close brothers whose lives take quite different directions: at the end of part I, one was a doctor dedicating himself to psychiatric institutional reform while the other was a military police officer. The film absolutely races through its plot; I'm not exaggerating when I say that if you leave the room for a minute without pausing the film you may come back to find that years have passed while you were gone. The storytelling is completely one-note; all incidents and events are told with the same uniform tone, so that the drama has no peaks and valleys, and none of it is compelling. Sure, a lot happens in terms of story, but I wasn't remotely engaged in any of it or in these characters. I'm sending the second half back unwatched, because there are too many other movies out there I want to see to muster up the energy or time to watch three more hours of this.
I will give "The Best of Youth" the benefit of the doubt that it views better in its original format, as installments on T.V. Maybe the story would seem like it was taking its time a bit more if it were coming at you across a longer period of time, and maybe the static and boring film-making would come across better if you were watching it as a T.V. movie and not as a feature film. But that still doesn't make me like it any better.
Grade: B-
Expecting much from this acclaimed and obviously beloved made-for-Italian-television miniseries, I instead finished the first half absolutely mystified at what people are responding to. The movie follows the stories of two very different but very close brothers whose lives take quite different directions: at the end of part I, one was a doctor dedicating himself to psychiatric institutional reform while the other was a military police officer. The film absolutely races through its plot; I'm not exaggerating when I say that if you leave the room for a minute without pausing the film you may come back to find that years have passed while you were gone. The storytelling is completely one-note; all incidents and events are told with the same uniform tone, so that the drama has no peaks and valleys, and none of it is compelling. Sure, a lot happens in terms of story, but I wasn't remotely engaged in any of it or in these characters. I'm sending the second half back unwatched, because there are too many other movies out there I want to see to muster up the energy or time to watch three more hours of this.
I will give "The Best of Youth" the benefit of the doubt that it views better in its original format, as installments on T.V. Maybe the story would seem like it was taking its time a bit more if it were coming at you across a longer period of time, and maybe the static and boring film-making would come across better if you were watching it as a T.V. movie and not as a feature film. But that still doesn't make me like it any better.
Grade: B-