Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Young Ones Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 26, 2015

Jake Paltrow, son of Bruce and brother to Gwyneth, made his feature-length directorial debut with 2007’s “The Good Night.” A successful foray into dreamscapes and loneliness, Paltrow showed surprising confidence with the effort, overseeing strong performances and a distinct visual style to start his career on the right foot. “Young Ones” is his long-overdue follow-up, and the wait between projects may have hurt the helmer in the long run. An ambitious attempt to marry literary-style storytelling with a cinematic futureworld of misery, the picture is mostly paralyzed by its intentions, unable to gain much traction as a family drama or as an examination of dystopian panic. Although created with care, boasting impressive tech credits, “Young Ones” doesn’t generate much tension or post-show reflection, working a bit too hard to emerge as artful and important when it’s barely interesting, prone to wandering instead of remaining dramatically commanding.

In the near future, America’s water resources have disappeared, with precious land lost to drought and punishing temperatures. While the public takes refuge in cities, farmer Ernest (Michael Shannon) remains defiant, sure his dirt is fertile enough to produce crops once he can secure enough water. With wife Katherine (Amiee Mullins) paralyzed and living in a nearby rehab center, Ernest is left to care for daughter Mary (Elle Fanning), who’s ready to run off with love Flem (Nicholas Hoult), and son Jerome (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a sensitive teen ready to follow in his father’s footsteps. Navigating punishing conditions, Ernest hopes to bribe local water pipeline workers to bring resources to his land, avoiding foreclosure after producing a bountiful crop. However, Flem, whose family was tainted by Ernest’s fair business practices, seeks revenge for imaginary crimes, insidiously working his way into his enemy’s household, becoming a husband to Mary and father figure to Jerome, who’s immediately unsettled by the new addition, especially when he begins to recognize duplicitous behavior from the interloper.

“Young Ones” establishes a grim setting, visiting a vaguely southwestern landscape that’s as dry as a bone, providing a home to Ernest and his sunburned family. There’s a government in place, working to placate the masses with national food distribution (basically gray glop pinched out of packets) and management of the water sources that remain, with news of events spreading over the radio, keeping sharp citizens informed. Ernest has made a mess of his life, but he’s determined to prove that his land has the potential to produce crops, delivering supplies (including rations of alcohol) to unfortunate souls in the area, including a team of pipeline workers who appreciate the goods, but refuse to send water his way. One of the themes of “Young Ones” is failure, watching Ernest struggle with the cold reality of his mistakes, trying to make something out of nothing to keep what remains of his pride, hoping that his actions aren’t replicated in Jerome, an innocent kid who wants to help. Fighting the temptation to restart his battle with alcoholism while maintaining a sense of community leadership over the burned-out citizens that remain, Ernest’s mission to maintain his composure in the face of loss launches the movie on a compelling note, establishing hope that Paltrow will ignore dystopian clichés and keep his attention on more intimate matters.

Divided into three chapters, each shifting the tale’s point of view, “Young Ones” strives to bring the sweep of a Great American Novel to the screen, detailing the actions of tortured characters dealing with various levels of unrest. The idea is commendable, but there’s nothing in the movie that earns such enthusiasm, with the screenplay periodically dipping into melodrama to reinforce passion best articulated with subtlety. Supporting characters show little staying power, turns of plot are palatable at first but soon get grabby, and dialogue is stilted, reinforcing the static atmosphere of the effort. After a gripping start, “Young Ones” loses its way, watching Paltrow pay more attention to editing techniques and transitions than narrative flow, with Flem’s subplot of domestic dominance left a jumble of ideas, having trouble taking shape as Paltrow aims to achieve something grander with the character and his poisonous intent.

Dramatics eventually dissolve into loose ideas of revenge and grief, but “Young Ones” manages to hold attention through its visual achievements. While not a picture devoted to sci-fi-style technological advancements, there’s a fascinating aid to Ernest and Jerome called “simulit,” which is a robotic companion invented to help carries supplies across unforgiving terrain. Eventually playing an important role in Jerome’s maturity, the machine adds a nice bit of oddity to the movie, giving it a futuristic feel. Fascinating details are scattered throughout the feature, including Mary’s use of clean dirt to wash dishes after dinner and Katherine’s unique therapy, where she’s plugged into robotic parts via the spine to help her walk again, exercising around an electrical grid to return the sensation of walking to the shattered woman. Cinematography by Giles Nuttgens is also a highlight, developing a sun-baked look to the effort that helps to sell the land’s unforgiving atmosphere.

Young Ones Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.39:1 aspect ratio) presentation does display an immediate brightness that remains throughout the viewing experience. It feels perfectly natural to the feature's tone and artistic intent, even while it appears artificially boosted at times. Colors are consistent and periodically pronounced, with the orange-centric palette that registers as intended, capturing punishment from the sun. Skintones are equally successful. Contrast faces a few challenges throughout the movie, but blacks are largely secure, delivering passable delineation during evening sequences.

Young Ones Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix brings the dusty, windy mood of "Young Ones" to life. Atmospherics are quite good here, bringing out the emptiness of the land and the commotion that periodically arises. Surrounds fill out airplane passes and the group dynamic, giving encouraging energy to community scenes and elements of travel. Scenes of violence and exploration carry some low-end heft. Dialogue exchanges are crisply detailed, capturing ranges in emotion with ideal clarity.

Young Ones Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Storyboard Comparisons (4:30, HD) take a look at five scenes, detailing how production drawings closely matched the final product.

• A Theatrical Trailer has not been included.

Young Ones Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Young Ones" comes across uneven, moving unsteadily as it builds to what seems intended to be a devastating ending involving Jerome's awakening as a man. While sections of the movie remain enticingly hostile and deeply considered, Paltrow slowly loses the potency of his vision, after a specific dramatic mood that's just out of reach. After "The Good Night," there was hope for the helmer to build on his striking debut. "Young Ones" introduces doubt, displaying a director with an affinity for the abstract and the theatrical, but lacking self-control when it comes time to tell a secure story populated with compelling characters.