Storyline
Performing art troupe members each face their own trials and tribulations in Chengdu; from escaping a family scandal to dealing with unrequited love, each experiences rejection that shapes their lives in this coming-of-age tale selected to play at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Chinese helming legend Feng Xiaogang.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Trailer
Reviews
80
Youth is as sentimental as it is accomplished, but Xiaogang's mastery both of broad sweep and intimate detail proves an impressive feat.
80
Youth is a whirl of grand, dramatic gestures.
80
Feng employs traditional craftsmanship to draw a sweeping historical canvas with profound human upheavals that mirror virtues and flaws of the Chinese people, without ever losing sight of the personal experiences that he dramatizes with such acute sensuality.
75
The film’s themes mature from adolescent pettiness to adult regret, with several epilogues set well after the main events of the story.
70
As a straight, sentimental melodrama, Youth works well. While there are a lot of conventional tropes, the cast enacts them with such fresh, tenderhearted sincerity that they regain some power.
