Young Ones is a 2014 neo-western written and directed by Jake Paltrow and starring Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon and Kodi Smith-McPhee. Set on a future dust-bowl earth, the film tells the story of a farming families struggle to survive. Since the movie is not available on Blu-ray yet – I thought I’d give the iTunes HD version a quick review.
Elle Fanning as Mary Holm in ‘Young Ones’ ties the knot.
Like Automata, ‘Young Ones’ has (possibly unfairly) taken a bit of a drubbing critically, I put this down to being part of a long run of grim future-noir dramas that have hit the screens recently: The Road, The Rover, Elysium and Dredd to name a few and grim neo-westerns: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Brokeback Mountain. Basically the grim future/western has been done to death recently, and if you are going to do that – you’d better have something new and interesting to say.
Nicholas Hoult as Flem Lever in ‘Young Ones’
And unfortunately that’s the problem here: Beautiful to look at, decent cast, great tone, and plenty of conflict and drama, but none of it feels new. That’s not to say it’s bad – just, well, surplus. However if you are in the mood for a charmingly executed grim neo-western, then this may be the film for you. Personally I could use a few laughs.
Young Ones iTunes HD Review
Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jerome Holm in ‘Young Ones’
The iTunes 1080p download clocks in at 2.77GB and has a run time of 99:53 minutes.
The 3.43 Mbps average bit-rate is a little on the low side, but is typical of recent iTunes releases. Peak bit rates touches 17 Mbps, with sustained peak of 10 Mbps that lasts nearly two minutes, which you’ll be able to guess the location of when you see the film if you know anything about video compression.
Liah O’Prey as Anna in ‘Young Ones’
Audio is handled by the typical iTunes combo of a 160kbps stereo AAC track and a 384kbps 5.1 Dolby Digital track.
Apple’s new compressor does a great job, with the limited bit-rate available, and there is little in the way of overt compression artifacts, but static backgrounds often have a slightly smudgy look that I associate with variable bit-rate compressors making ‘Sophie’s choice’ type decisions. Frankly a five megabit average bit-rate would have improved things greatly.
Conclusion
Elle Fanning as Mary Holm in ‘Young Ones’.
Fair: Three out of five. A serviceable transfer of the film, but it’s definitely going to look better on Blu-ray. Given the charms of the film are mostly visual – it may be worth waiting. If you can’t wait – then the iTunes transfer is serviceable.
And man – that title: Vyvyan!