Say what you will about Paolo Sorrentino‘s work as a formalist — we already have! — but the man can put together a decent soundtrack. After the cross-cultural smorgasbord of This Must Be the Place and Italian razz-ma-tazz of The Great Beauty, his latest picture, Youth, seems to focus its aging characters’ struggle with something a bit more contemplative. Or so I’m guessing by glancing at the soundtrack listing that’s made its way online and listening to some of the tracks, nearly all of which — even the cuts from David Byrne — are less-than-peachy. But maybe life is, too, you know?
Such is the vibe from a new set of clips, including one that makes the presence of a beautiful, naked woman intensely morose. Though dubbed into Italian, they, being (as far as I can tell) unedited, offer some sense of what Sorrentino’s aiming for behind the camera, and regardless of the fact that a number of people have already decided that they’ll never want to see anything else from him — the man’s become that kind of figure in a short amount of time — I’m not totally put-off by what’s here. Call me an easy mark, but I think there are many things worse than watching Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel spend a bit of time together.
Check out the soundtrack details (via Film Music Reporter), along with tracks where available, and clips below (with the first one here):
Disc 1:
1. You Got the Love – The Retrosettes Sister Band
2. Onward – Mark Kozelek
3. Third and Seneca – Sun Kil Moon
4. Préludes (Book 1) – Des pas sur la neige (No. 6): Triste et lent – Gianluca Cascioli
5. Mercadante: Virginia (Atto I) Cavatina “Figlia tu scuoti” – Susan Patterson
6. À ma manière – Maria Letizia Gorga, Stefano De Meo, Marco Colonna, Laura Pierazzuoli
7. Reality – The Retrosettes Sister Band
Disc 2:
1. Can’t Rely on You – Paloma Faith
2. The Breeze / My Baby Cries – Bill Callahan
3. Ceiling Gazing – Mark Kozelek
4. Dirty Hair – David Byrne
5. Stravinsky: Berceuse da “L’oiseau de feu – The Firebird” – Terry Davies
6. Just (After Song of Songs) – Trio Medieval, Garth Knox, Agnes Vesterman, Sylvain Lemetre
7. Simple Song #3 – Sumi Jo
8. Mick’s Dream (Bonus Track) – The Berlin Radio Chorus
9. Wood Symphony (Bonus Track) – David Lang
Youth has been acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures and will be released on Dec. 4th.