Best of Utes

Most films clock in somwhere between an hour and a half to two hours and a half. For some reason, nearly all films are this length. Personally, I'd like theaters to show more short films, that are, say, half an hour to an hour in length, and on the flip side, to show films that are three or more hours long. It makes more sense to make shorter films, though, if for no other reason than it costs less to make a short film than a long, and you can see many more films.

Best of Youth is an Italian film about two brothers, Matteo and Nicola, and their lives, spanning from 1960 to presumably present day. Landmark E Street is showing this film in two halves. I've just seen the first one today, and should see the second one tomorrow. Each half is three hours long.

I can't say, at this point, what the title means. Is it about youth being the best time of our lives? Is it about the best youth? It is about the best instincts of youth? It doesn't seem to be any of these.

Best of Youth seems terribly European to me. If you watch European films, they don't have a particularly strong plot arc. As it moves forward, you keep asking yourself, what will they do next, and not have a good idea. The beginning of the film shows two brothers training to be doctors in Italy. The older one meets Giorgia, who is a patient at the local asylum. She's beautiful, yet is not well. She barely talks to anyone, yells when people touch her. Her father doesn't want to care for her anymore, which is why she's at the asylum. Worse still, she's undergoing shock therapy.

Matteo is supposed to walk her around, and keep her relaxed. He soon decides that he must get her out of the asylum. This eventually leads to Giorgia being caught by police when she is trying, not too successfully to get ice cream, and the two brothers leading divergent lives. The older brother joins the army, and then the police. The younger brother heads to Norway to be a lumberjack, before finally returning to Italy, where he marries and has a kid, and becomes a psychiatrist, who is interested in helping those who are literally imprisoned in asylums.

It's tough to peg Best of Youth. While the story is about two brothers and how they end up leading different lives, and how their friends and other siblings (they have two sisters) and parents interact, it's also a commentary about mental health care in Italy, and the political turmoil over 20-30 years. I'd probably have a better feel for what was going on if I knew more about the recent Italian history.

What is more notable to me, an American, is the very traditionally Italian gestures. Hand gestures, facial gestures--the Italians are noted for using gestures to accentuate whatever they say. Best of Youth is funny too, from the quirky things the characters do, to what they say, and yet it all seems quite natural, except perhaps how much they love to sing. In particular, they hum a tune they claim is Anatomie, using it to make fun of one of the brothers trying to score on a woman (the real name is something like Amada Meo).

American songs from the 1950s are so, are also used to give the film a sense of the era.

Do I like it? I'm enjoying it. I'm curious what will happen to Giorgia, and the brothers. I keep thinking they'll kill off some character (they have, but it wasn't a surprise). I wonder if it will reach modern times, say, at least up to the 1990s. Best of Youth comes across somewhat preachy when it comes to issues like mental health care, but there's so much else going on, that I don't particularly mind.

I'm modestly surprised that I can somewhat follow bits and pieces of Italian by listening, and looking at the subtitles. I have to say that I'd much rather read subtitles, even if this means I have to look at the bottom of the screen, instead of watching every image. I know some prefer dubbing to subtitles, but you really have to hear the words enunciated by native speakers to get a real feel for the original dialogue.

This is one of those films that's probably going to be hard to catch except in a place like Landmark. The AFI theater recently showed it as well, but a six hour runtime is likely to scare many people off.

Unlike, say, the two halves of Kill Bill, which could easily be seen as a first and second part, the two halves of Best of Youth is merely due to where they folks who distributed it decided the cut should be. It appears quite intentional that it was originally 6 hours. I don't know if they've done much to warrant a 6 hour runtime, though it gives time to learn about the characters, and what they go through.