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The Best of Youth
The Best of Youth Image
Metascore
89 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 28 Critics What's this?

User Score
9.2 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 139 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Alessio Boni, Jasmine Trinca, Luigi Lo Cascio
  • Summary: 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)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    This is epic filmmaking on a profoundly human scale, directed to perfection and magnificently acted by everyone in sight.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    100
    A major cinema event of the year, a masterpiece of Italian film traditions in social/political realism and historical family epic.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    It is a luxury to be enveloped in a good film.

See all 28 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 77
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 77
  3. Negative: 3 out of 77
  1. AlanL
    10
    I saw this film when it was first released. it is now November 2009 and I just recommended it to a friend, deciding for the first time to look at some of the film's reviews. Reading those reviews brought back so much of my pleasure in this film that I began to have tears in my eyes. The film is a great experience.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. CarolinaB.
    5
    I was really looking forward to seeing this film because of all the great reviews I'd read and heard on NPR. I love foreign films and have no problem with slow, complicated movies. But this one was marred by bad acting from three of the main actors. Giorgia is a caricature of a mentally ill patient and her role in the film is treated more as a prop than an actual character. The actress who plays the terrorist Giulia gives a really bad, childish performance -- lots of averted and halting glances to telegraph hesitancy and other emotions (not to mention the hideous straw wigs they have her wearing). The actor who plays Matteo is the same -- a lot of staring off through his car windshield to telegraph intensity and troubled emotions. The character has inexplicable anger and hostility that never gets explained, even when his sister asks outright "What did we ever do to you to deserve such treatment?" Good question. We never learn why he's so messed up. And after all that intensity, the director gives him a comical death scene (I actually laughed when he rolled himself over the wall to his death -- it was just such a ridiculous and awkward way for him to jump).… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. JonI.
    0
    Must be definitely the most overated movie in cinema history. 2 reasons: pathetic performances and boring, boring, boring plot. Don't give it a chance if you have any respect for cinema masters (Coppola, Kusturica, Lynch, Antonioni) or for yourself.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 77 User Reviews

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