Some of you have seen it. Heck, some of you may have even been in a similar situation. You Make Me Feel So Young is centred on a deteriorating relationship between two American twenty-somethings.
The film is the work of writer/director, Zach Weintraub who also doubles as the film’s star. He is the boyfriend of Justine (Justine Eister). After Zach gets a new job programming an art house cinema the pair relocates to a new town. But this change of scenery and being away from the previous routine and familiarity of home uncovers deep seated problems and issues between the couple.
You Make Me Feel So Young is a beautifully shot film in black and white. This lends the art house film a more dramatic and creative feel, especially in the beginning when some of the music that underpins the soundtrack plays out like a modern art kaleidoscope. But while things are ambient and impressionistic, it ultimately fails to match its slick style with enough story and substance.
The tale of a deteriorating relationship is hardly anything revelatory. Blue Valentine is just one film that did this before, but was also able to give their characters an adequate past and present storyline. It would even make some viewers root for one or both of the characters as they had enough information to draw their own conclusions.
But in You Make Me Feel So Young things seem like little more than directionless art and an extensive exercise in navel-gazing. It is made up entirely of subtle, real-time vignettes and observations that depict mundane, day-to-day pieces from life.
It’s all quite honest and truthful but it makes for tedious viewing and seems like a lot of life’s in-between moments. With occasions where there is little dialogue and even less plot, it all feels far too voyeuristic in its portrayal of one young couple’s idle life and their inevitable break-up.
Review Score: ONE STAR (OUT OF FIVE)
Duration: 80 minutes.
This film will screen on August 9 as part of the Possible Worlds Film Festival. For more information and tickets please visit: http://www.possibleworlds.net.au/
———-
