The Best of Youth
Miramax Films | Release Date: March 2, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
89
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This is epic filmmaking on a profoundly human scale, directed to perfection and magnificently acted by everyone in sight. Read full review
100
NewsweekDavid 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
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa 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
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Those who see it will, quite frankly, not believe their luck. It is that satisfying, that engrossing, that good. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael 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
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It is a luxury to be enveloped in a good film. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick 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
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean 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
100
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
In exchange for a small piece of your life, you receive an infinity. Read full review
90
VarietyScott 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
90
SlateDavid 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
90
SalonStephanie Zacharek
This is a graceful and enveloping feat of filmmaking. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla 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
90
Chicago ReaderJ.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
90
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The Best of Youth takes its chance--almost unheard of, these days--to bloom and unfurl like a novel. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter 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
88
New York Daily NewsJami 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
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
A slowly flowering miracle: an epic of normal life. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Lo Cascio and Boni inhabit their roles with keen intellectual and emotional vigor. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJessica Winter
The movie has the addictive episodic intimacy of great TV. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Full of nuance and complexity, but it is also as accessible and engrossing as a grand 19th-century novel. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Rarely have six hours spent doing ANYTHING seemed so rewarding. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Like some wines, The Best of Youth travels well. From its earliest moments the film is intelligently seen. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
A big, family-style Italian dinner, catered to the broadest tastes, yet satisfying all the same. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Works as both historical allegory and moving family drama. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverMichael 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
75
New York PostRussell Scott Smith
All the pieces converge in a powerful rush during the second half. Read full review
75
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
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