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Best of Youth, The
Miramax Films


9.1

based on 28 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 126 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for language and brief nudity

Starring Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, Sonia Bergamasco, Fabrizio Gifuni, Maya Sansa, Valentina Carnelutti, and Jasmine Trinca

Spanning four decades, from the chaotic 1960s to the present, this passionate epic follows two Italian brothers through some of the most tumultuous events of recent Italian history. (Miramax)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Sandro Petraglia Stefano Rulli
DIRECTED BY:	Marco Tullio Giordana
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 7, 2006 Theatrical: March 2, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	358 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Italy
LANGUAGE(S):	Italian (with English subtitles)

Original title "La Meglio Gioventù"; Un Certain Regard Award, 2003 Cannes Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This is epic filmmaking on a profoundly human scale, directed to perfection and magnificently acted by everyone in sight.

100

Newsweek David Ansen

Smart, generous, as subtle as it is expansive, this is storytelling of a rare order. Six hours may seem like a big investment, but the emotional pay-back is beyond price.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Like a great novel from a more expansive bygone age, The Best of Youth is full of big thoughts; like a great soap opera, it's also full of sharp plot turns, vibrant characters, and great talk. It is, in short, the best of cinema.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Those who see it will, quite frankly, not believe their luck. It is that satisfying, that engrossing, that good.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A major cinema event of the year, a masterpiece of Italian film traditions in social/political realism and historical family epic.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is a luxury to be enveloped in a good film.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

So in-depth, so appealing, so easy to sit through and so anomalously grand scale that few who see it will ever forget it.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Giordana's redemptive vision provides a sense of discovery and a well of hope in the most devastating of troubles, and beautiful surprises in love, friendship and family.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

In exchange for a small piece of your life, you receive an infinity.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The Best of Youth takes its chance--almost unheard of, these days--to bloom and unfurl like a novel.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The story unfolds at such length and over so many years that politics tend to fade into the wallpaper, leaving an exceptionally rich family story.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

And like all great family sagas, The Best of Youth, while tipping its hat to the painful confusion of living life forward, reels it backward to give it the thrilling significance of time and place.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

This is a graceful and enveloping feat of filmmaking.

Slate David Edelstein

The Best of Youth doesn't have a boring millisecond. It isn't an art film, with longueurs; it's a mini-series with the sweep of a classic novel, with tons of plot.

Variety Scott Foundas

At nearly six hours, pic's extreme length lets Giordana and screenwriters Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli build up a novelistic rhythm, pulling the audience so deeply and forcefully into their story that it becomes like a enveloping dream; when it's over, parting with the characters is truly sweet and sorrowful.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

After all the observations on heartache, politics, art, commerce, passion, identity, mortality, even mental health, six hours begin to seem downright compact.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The acting is electric. By the end of this haunting, hypnotic film, you feel you have watched lives being lived, not just imagined.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A slowly flowering miracle: an epic of normal life.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Works as both historical allegory and moving family drama.

Dallas Observer Michael Fox

Eminently watchable, The Best of Youth nonetheless lacks the devastating emotional gut punch of its obvious inspiration, Visconti's "Rocco and His Brothers."

TV Guide Ken Fox

Rarely have six hours spent doing ANYTHING seemed so rewarding.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Lo Cascio and Boni inhabit their roles with keen intellectual and emotional vigor.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

The movie has the addictive episodic intimacy of great TV.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Full of nuance and complexity, but it is also as accessible and engrossing as a grand 19th-century novel.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Like some wines, The Best of Youth travels well. From its earliest moments the film is intelligently seen.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

A big, family-style Italian dinner, catered to the broadest tastes, yet satisfying all the same.

New York Post Russell Scott Smith

All the pieces converge in a powerful rush during the second half.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

If you've got six hours to invest watching superior television in a movie theatre, then spend the time wisely with The Best of Youth.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 126 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Keyser S. gave it a10:
The most beautiful story?Yes.Seriously,this story will touch the heart of any human being.

John C. gave it a10:
PERFECTION...No other word can describe the acting, the costumes, sets and the so real dialogs...maybe one must have had to live in Italy to enjoy all the subtleness buried within the great screen play...then again, maybe not.

Tod P. gave it a10:
Like no other film. Overwhelming in the way that a great novel can be.

Michael B. gave it a10:
Haunting & historic, an unusual achievement.

Linda C. gave it a7:
I found the movie mesmerizing but ultimately unfulfilling. It was beautifully filmed and acted, but the story and characters were too melodramatic. It had a soap-opera quality to it. I doubt I would have stayed tuned if the show were in English. The subtitles and beautiful Italians made the film seem better than it really was.

LK R. gave it a10:
This film/series is "the" best(made forTV) film that I've ever seen! Has a transformational quality and potential. I originally rented it not knowing a thing about it. I now own it because my video store (boo hoo) is going out of business and I bought the one copy they had. I rarely, if ever, buy a DVD, but this was an exception. It is a universal story about family, love, compassion, passion, choices, acceptance, pain, humanity, the individual spirit, the collective spirit, and so, so much more. One has to see it and experience it. I couldn't stop watching it and have viewed it 3 times now. The actors and director's choices were so amazing, beautiful and thoughtful cinematography, locations, editing and directing. Even the subtitles/translation were great. The dialogue and narratives were so sensitive, intelligent, historically accurate and balanced. I recommend watching the 6 hours in one sitting to get the full effect of the story. Why can't we produce quality TV programming like this in the US? If they did, I just might re-hook up the TV to regular satellite or cable and pay.

Sylvia P. gave it a10:
The best 6 hours I've spent doing anything---it casts a spell on you the viewer and even after the movie's over the spell doesn't let you go. A wonderful cast and superb acting.

Best of Youth, The Miramax Films

Best of Youth, The
Miramax Films