Youth Without Youth

Sometimes a movie can come close to telling a story the way a book would. And that's how Coppola's film comes across which is, in his words, all about consciousness. Tim Roth plays a linguistic professor who gets a second lease of life one day in WW II Romania - and through a surreal (reverse aging process), highly spiritual journey gets closer to his life objective in linguistic research - to understand the "inarticulate moment of the beginning", which apparently will help in the future of post-historic man. Along the way, one comes across many interesting characters and many interesting places. Without focusing on the reverse aging gimmick too much, 'Youth Without Youth' is heavily laden with philosophical concepts which can circumvent ones brain - however, the film's got a good rhythm and Tim Roth's temperament to tell a highly interesting story.

Rating: * * *