I feel so un-American and no doubt our current President would call me unpatriotic but I just have had no interest in watching the Olympics. What's wrong with me? I have heard bits and pieces of what's been going on and I have to tell you it does sound like a soap opera. Forget Days Of Our Lives this is Days On The Ice or One Ski To Live. Feuding ice stars, outspoken skiers, flubbed routines, one would think that I would be riveted since I used to be a soap opera junkie. Oh well.

Something I did finally watch is the Italian epic movie The Best Of Youth. I had read some reviews of this near the end of last year and all of them were saying how good it was. I like reviews but I don't put a lot of stock into them because everyone is a critic. I don't recall seeing the film released theatrically in my area and had been looking in vain at the video stores but I did finally find it. I didn't find it at Blockbuster, Hollywood Video or another big name chain; I found it at a place called Video Barn (not the first hard to find movie I've found there).

Anyway, the film spans more than 30 years and follows two brothers, Nicola and Matteo from their days as youth at university to parenthood and middle age. The film has incredible character development and the acting and emotion is top notch. I've read reviews that compare this movie to The Godfather films and while I can see where the comparison comes from, I enjoyed this film more than all 3 Godfather movies put together. If you can get past the subtitles and the fact that it is 6 hours long, this film is incredible. I think I purposely took my time watching it because by the time the third hour rolled around I realized I did not want this movie to end. The only major criticism I have about the film is the plot development about four hours in to the film. I thought it was a mistake and it tainted the experience a little bit for me because I felt cheated out of one of the characters and the possibilities that were missed. This film is a must see and could teach many American directors a thing or ten about telling a story, developing characters, and infusing each scene with true emotion.

peace out,

paul