The Best of Youth
2003
Directed by Marco Tullio Giordana
The most notable (and frightening) thing about this film seems to be that it is seven hours long. I suppose when you consider the fact that it was originally meant to be shown on television, it doesn't seem too excessive. Still, I think seven hours is a long time to spend with one family, even my own (just kidding, Mom).
The Best of Youth follows the lives of two brothers from the 1960s to present day. Matteo is hot headed, while Nicola is more grounded. Any further description is definitely above my pay grade (which, let's just say, is low enough that I am not required to pay taxes).
Italian family sagas have never been my thing, but this is probably the best of the batch (the batch being Rocco and his Brothers and Novecento). Maybe I haven't taken to them because I never find the characters particularly relatable or admirable. Not that likable characters are necessary for a good film, but it does make the hundreds of hours needed to watch these movies more bearable.
In any case, I am getting slightly burned out, so I will end there (did I use enough parentheses in this post?).
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Originally developed as a miniseries.
Did this get discussed somewhere else? I'm sure I remember Ray saying he couldn't find a proper copy of it and I offered to share online a copy I had. Anyway, just stumbled across that copy and watched it for the first time.
ReplyDeleteVery happy with it. Over six hours long but time only dragged a little in the final hour when not so much was happening. Very similar to the 90s BBC series Our Friends in the North, which also followed a group of mid-sixties teenagers through decades of political and cultural change in their country. Probably I would have enjoyed it even more if I knew Italy better and so understood more of the references or I had more of a personal connection to them.
The only downside of these things is that you're looking at some actor who was only just trying to pass himself off as twenty and with a little grey hair dye you're thinking "Oh yeah, he's supposed to be sixty now, is he?"
You found the characters dislikable? If anything I might have tweaked the dial to make them slightly less likeable in order to squeeze more drama out of the lemon. More importantly, why is my browser's spellchecker happy for me to spell dislik(e)able without without the 'e' yet insists that I include it in lik(e)able? The dictionary says both are correct, either way.