Youth

In Youth, Fred (Caine) and Mick (Keitel) explore their lifelong bond while vacationing in a luxury Swiss Alps lodge, as they ponder retirement. While Fred has no plans to resume his musical career despite the urging of his loving daughter Lena (Weisz), Mick is intent on finishing a screenplay in what may be his last important film for his muse Brenda (Fonda). The movie asks if our most important and transformative experience can come at any time—even late—in life. (Gary Reber)

Special features include five featurettes: Michael Caine (HD 03:43), Paolo Sorrentino (HD 04:11), Cast (HD 03:56), Music And Sound (HD 03:43), and The Essence Of Youth (HD 02:10); an image gallery; the theatrical trailer; upfront previews; and an UltraViolet digital copy.

The 2.39:1 1080p AVC picture is amazingly beautiful with the spectacular Swiss Alps as the backdrop setting. Visually stylized and engaging, the color palette is perfectly natural throughout, whether in the outdoor mountainous scenes or the interiors of the spa resort. The spring mountainous scenes are breathtaking and absolutely gorgeous. As for the interiors, even with lighting cast on the actors, fleshtones are realistically natural. Hues are rich and warm with strong primaries. Contrast is well balanced with naturally deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Resolution is superb, with fine detail exhibited in facial features, hair, clothing, and object texture. This is one of those cinematic visual experiences that is surreal and unforgettable. The imagery is reference quality throughout. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is impressively nuanced with excellent fidelity. Mountainous scenes are full of atmospheric and ambient nature sounds that occupy every channel in the 7-channel soundfield. The added two channels really enhance the sense of realism during such scenes. In one particular, Caine conducts the sound of cows whose neck bells chime and birds and other wildlife join in. In this immersive sound segment, the sense of height is extraordinary, even though the soundtrack is rendered without height channels. David Lang's score is superb as well, at times sounding dynamic or nuanced, but with effective and aggressive envelopment. Other atmospherics and sound effects also provide an excellent sense of soundfield envelopment. Dialogue consistently sounds natural with good spatial integration. This is a spectacular holosonic® soundtrack that is creatively and artistically rendered, with reference-quality character. (Gary Reber)