So, I just got this comment on my flip little post about Youth:

“What is the point of this? An opinion without explanation is frustrating and useless.”

Maybe Deborah is right about that.

When I wrote that Youth is an idea in search of a movie, what I meant is that it is over-conceptualized and even sterile.  It doesn’t flow very well and it manages at once to be overly abstract in terms of narrative without delivering on formal properties of style that — since form and content are inextricably linked — might reinforce some of the central themes in ways that would elevate the film as a whole.

It’s not a bad film, but it is a bit of a missed opportunity because Youth is neither emotionally engaging nor aesthetically distinctive.