LWLies 63: the Youth issue

For the lat­est issue of Lit­tle White Lies, we were hum­bled to be grant­ed time in the pres­ence of a bona fide leg­end of British cin­e­ma: Sir Michael Caine. He spoke to us about his friend­ship with Cary Grant, the time he went on a blind-date with Bette Davis and how he pulled him­self up by his boot­straps to get where he is today.

And that ​“today” is Pao­lo Sorrentino’s Youth, his melan­cholic fol­low-up to exu­ber­ant Oscar-win­ner, The Great Beau­ty, in which Caine plays a retired clas­si­cal music con­duc­tor who is being coaxed from his scenic Swiss enclave for one last gig, by order of the Queen of England.

The film is fun­ny and reflec­tive, with Caine and his film direc­tor pal played by Har­vey Kei­t­el, mus­ing on the nature of mor­tal­i­ty while orbit­ed by a num­ber of trou­bled hang­ers-on. The cov­er of this issue has been cre­at­ed by artist Jax­on Northon as an oil on can­vas por­trait of the film’s star.

In this issue…

Every Bloody Thing

Michael Caine rem­i­nisces about 50 years of film indus­try mem­o­ries and a life­time of fam­i­ly values.

The Pup­pet Master

Youth direc­tor, Pao­lo Sor­renti­no, is hap­pi­er pulling the strings than per­form­ing. Sophie Monks Kauf­man faced the mys­te­ri­ous maestro.

Spe­cial Fea­ture: Swan Songs

In the spir­it of Youth’s reflec­tive tone and its sto­ry of a man look­ing back on his achieve­ments in search of self def­i­n­i­tion, we pay trib­ute to 50 final films, in alpha­bet­i­cal order start­ing with Chan­tal Akerman’s No Home Movie and end­ing with to Edward Yang’s Yi-Yi.

In the back section…

Char­lie Kauf­man and Duke John­son ani­mate Anom­al­isa; Hou Hsiao-Hsien trains The Assas­sin; Brie Lar­son escapes Room; Ryan Coogler and Michael B Jor­dan weigh in with Creed; Ale­jan­dro González Iñár­ritu sum­mons The Revenant; Michael Keaton shines Spot­light; Til­da Swin­ton takes A Big­ger Splash; Bryan Cranston is Trum­bo; Pilou Asbæk sur­vives A War; Julianne Moore and Ellen Page embrace Free­held; and Jen­nifer Lawrence feels the Joy.

All that plus inter­views with Char­lie Kauf­man and Duke John­son, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Brie Lar­son, Bryan Cranston and Luca Guadagnino.

LWLies 63 hits news­stands Fri­day 8 Jan­u­ary and is avail­able to pre-order now from our online shop. Sub­scribers will start receiv­ing their copies from Wednes­day 6 January.