Youth is not age, but state of mind ; A grandiose imagination, a fiery love; youth is the fountain of life flowing." Paolo Sorrentino, born in 1970, is not an old man, but his films are always full of old people. Life. From the debut novel "The Same Name" to the budding "The Result of Love", from the poorly-received "Vengeance for the Father" to the amazing "Extinction City", we can clearly find Sorrentino's influence on the years The concern of the elderly, it is no exaggeration to say that he is a middle-aged director obsessed with the life of the elderly. There will always be comparisons between Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" and "City of Beauty" before it, or even claiming that the two films are actually sisters. Although the name of the film is called "Youth", what Sorrentino really wants to show is old age. Young bodies touched old skin, young caregivers in clean work clothes ascended by elevator, and elderly people wrapped in bathrobes descended by elevator. Such contrasts and contrasts permeate the entire film. In "Youth and Youth," retired composer Fred and his friend, the famous director Mick, come to a beautiful retreat in Switzerland, where they enjoy pampering massages, saunas, spas and prostate exams, and Sad show at the end of the season. As a long-established musician, Fred refused the invitation of the Queen and the publishing house's request to write an autobiography for him. Even with his daughter as his assistant, there seems to be an indescribable estrangement. Lena complained of his indifference—Fred hadn't visited his wife in the hospital in ten years. He has nothing to do all day, away from his original life. In his own words, he "has never been able to love life enough" and he is "just an old man full of prejudice". But at the same time, from time to time, he would take out the candy wrapper he carried with him and rub the beat, patiently correcting the little boy he didn't know in the hotel playing his masterpiece.
As an "outstanding female director", Mick is still confidently preparing for his last film. He is also young and has to take various drugs and check his body over and over again. But he still keeps discussing the ending of the movie with his creative team every day, and he still looks forward to continuing to work with Brenda Moore, the heroine who has worked with eleven films. He even referred to the film as his "posthumous work."
The days in the sanatorium passed peacefully day by day, and the two old friends struggled to remember their parents, childhood, love and their whole life every day. Their greatest wish is to "be able to pee tomorrow". As Mick made the young stars see through the telescope, when young, everything in the future looks close, and in old age, everything in the past looks far away.
And the others around them were not all smooth sailing. Lena suffers a sudden break in her marriage, and Hollywood star Jimmy Tree, played by Paul Dano, is bent on breaking through the stereotype of his robot "Mr.Q." Sorrentino even boldly mirrored Maradona, who was addicted to drugs and overeating, resulting in extreme obesity, coupled with the enchanting Miss Universe who won the championship, and the lama who seemed to be able to meditate in the air, always unhappy. The prostitutes...as well as the aging patients and the young and tidy nursing staff, such a group of people living in the beautiful nursing home day and night, forming a strange, beautiful, "Fellini"-style picture of all beings. It seems that Sorrentino is not trying to present a problem or a certain kind of encounter, he is concerned with people - and the crisis of being a person.
Jean Mitry once said, "A novel is a story told, and a film is a story told." As the two most similar art forms in structure, if a film is compared to a novel, Then all transitions such as fade out, dissolve, swipe, jump cut, etc. are its punctuation marks. In "Youth and Exuberance", although Sorrentino used "sad show performances" to form chapters and paragraphs, the camera jumps and cuts between different times and spaces such as reality, dream, fantasy, etc. Drunk and confused.
Photographer Luca Bigazzi didn't offer many groundbreaking techniques, but with a well-designed centrosymmetric composition, rich depth of field, and ubiquitous push-track shots throughout. And slow motion, all of which Sorrentino is most vivid and adept at, intensify the rising tension in the scene, which accumulates into the thickness of the characters and their emotional depth. This psychological effect of providing "characters' expressions and poses in different scenes" disrupts the narrative that is common in traditional films. Linear narrative never seems impossible in Sorrentino's films, just as his cruising camera never stays in one place honestly, after all the word dramatic doesn't necessarily mean conventional and conventional, Emotions and meanings do not exist naturally, they are created.
Sorrentino, who is often compared to Fellini by the media, seems to echo the guru's words: "A director can make a film in the same personal and completely private way a writer does. "Perhaps it is precisely because of this that he insists on his own style again, and many commentators believe that compared with "The Beautiful City", Sorrentino has no real self-breakthrough. Although the scene in which Fred conducts the orchestra is an homage to Fellini's "Orchestra Rehearsal" (1978), his film is so flamboyant relative to neorealism that even Fellini himself ends up staying away— — or beyond Italian neorealism. Neorealism is a humane realism that uses special techniques to demonstrate the constant exchange and communication between man and the material world, while Sorrentino's is more of a fan of postmodernism. Does Sorrentino claim to be a believer in Neorealism? His official Italian actor, Toni Servillo, said of the difference: "Fellini watched while leaning on a railing, while Paul watched as he descended the stairs. I think in terms of language, Paul refers to his predecessors." Fellini wrote with "post-war passion," while Sorrentino was "interested in some missed opportunities."
At the same time, "Youth" once again showed Sorrentino's obsession and unique taste for musical elements. The "Simple Song" that runs through the entire film from beginning to end is composed by American composer David Lang. In addition, there are many other unique and alternative bands such as Ratatat, Godspeed You, Sun Kill Moon, etc., from electronic, British , folk, jazz, post-rock, etc. a wide range of music. The music in Sorrentino's films not only strengthens, but also amplifies the effect of the image several times. Using music to control the emotional transformation has become another prominent symbol of him.
Fred said to the doctor puzzled: "I'm getting old, but I don't know how old I am." Like youth, aging is not just the passing of years, it is also a state of mind. The lama who finally rose slowly into the sky is like the giraffe that appeared unexpectedly and was instantly disappeared by the magician in "City of Extinction", just like the giraffe who was idle in the garden in "The Young Pope" A kangaroo walking around, such absurdity or surrealism always becomes the unexplainable and unreasonable footnote to life in Sorrentino's films, and he creates this emotion in a gorgeous and romantic way.
Whether musicians, directors, journalists, gangsters, prime ministers or popes, whether human, animal or plant, we are all temporary extras in this world. Rather than waiting for death, express your desires and face the aging of life.
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