Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Best of Youth, The

Universal acclaim
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 130 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Foreign
Written by:
Sandro Petraglia
Stefano Rulli
Directed by: Marco Tullio Giordana
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 2, 2005
DVD: February 7, 2006
Running Time: 358 minutes, Color
Origin: Italy
Language(s): Italian (with English subtitles)
Summary
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site Film Forum Profile
What The Critics Said
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...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
This is epic filmmaking on a profoundly human scale, directed to perfection and magnificently acted by everyone in sight.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Those who see it will, quite frankly, not believe their luck. It is that satisfying, that engrossing, that good.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
In exchange for a small piece of your life, you receive an infinity.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
The Best of Youth takes its chance--almost unheard of, these days--to bloom and unfurl like a novel.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
This is a graceful and enveloping feat of filmmaking.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Works as both historical allegory and moving family drama.
Read Full Review >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."
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Lo Cascio and Boni inhabit their roles with keen intellectual and emotional vigor.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
The movie has the addictive episodic intimacy of great TV.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Like some wines, The Best of Youth travels well. From its earliest moments the film is intelligently seen.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
A big, family-style Italian dinner, catered to the broadest tastes, yet satisfying all the same.
Read Full Review >New York Post Russell Scott Smith
All the pieces converge in a powerful rush during the second half.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 130 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Cristina A gave it a10:
Gripping, wonderful story, great acting. I didn't want it to end.
Shirley L gave it a10:
I want to give it 9.5. I had seen it at least 6 times and every time I still found new clues and new interpretations of the characters.
Marco B gave it a10:
The movie is very long, so the comment will be very short: it's just an astonishing piece of filmmaking, who leaves you begging for more after 6 hours. Just see it and enjoy the experience.
Jeff T gave it a3:
Too long. I saw this film to practice Italian and that was my motivation to see the whole thing. To begin with, I didn't know it was six hours so I kept waiting for it to end. I don't understand all the raves. I am a foreign film aficionado but this one was much too slow for me and it had too many subplots. I couldn't relate nor bond with any of the characters.
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.
