Youth

At a spa in the Swiss Alps, two old friends, a composer (Michael Caine) and a film director (Harvey Keitel) cope with old age and their waning careers. That glib synopsis does little justice to Paolo Sorrentino’s visually voluptuous movie, stunningly photographed by Luca Bigazzi with echoes of Sorrentino’s countryman and cinematic forebear Federico Fellini. Sorrentino moves delicately, like a barista making pictures in the foam of a caffe latte, drawing in Rachel Weisz as Caine’s resentfully solicitous daughter, Paul Dano as an ardent young actor and other characters who weave and flow through the fragile story. It’s a movie where very little really happens, and sometimes it feels as placidly shallow as the pools where the spa’s guests soak themselves, but there’s always something fascinating going on. J.L.