Youthh Knows No Pain (2009) User Reviews

A little scattered and rambling - but it's honest ...

[Vic_max · 7/10 · 12 September 2009]

It's a bit funny: if you ask people who use cosmetics/drugs/surgery to postpone visible aging why they do it ... many can rattle off a pretty good sounding reason. But - if they keep talking (like they do in this documentary), you can hear their insecurities come out.

I appreciated this honesty. That's what made this documentary different than others - it's not about showing crazy people and disastrous results. It's about showing average people who want to retain some youthfulness as they age - nothing wrong with that. It's a little sad that our society is always asking "why do it" when deep down most of us completely understand.

The interviews are mixed in with comments from manufacturer CEOs talking about their products as well as the author's own personal reminisces regarding her father (a successful plastic surgeon). We also get to follow the author as she begins stepping up her own efforts to reverse the clock.

While the film's structure is a little rambling, it's the people's bumbling honesty that makes the show interesting. It's worth a watch if you're interested in this topic.

a must see!!

[danielassael-1 · 10/10 · 31 July 2009]

i saw this film at cinevegas and would recommend to a friend.

i enjoyed the film and now i have a completely new outlook on plastic surgery. if looking older is the worst problem than i think i'm doing just fine. I try not to judge people who get plastic surgery because if they feel good about themselves after they get a little work done, then who i am to say it's right or wrong.

i thought the documentary did a good job at keeping me entertained and they didn't make it to informational like other docs.

if you didn't get a chance to view the film, i believe it's airing on hbo at the end of august.

Revealing Expose of Aging

[amycboyd · 9/10 · 5 August 2009]

Mitch McCabe's "Youth Knows No Pain" is a very interesting study in the nation's obsession with aging. By following several characters, notably Sherry, who can't seem to stop getting surgery, and Norm, who has transformed himself to look like Jack Nicholson, McCabe is able to achieve an intimacy with the subject of aging that is not present on most of the media surrounding the issue. This intimacy is helped, of course, by McCabe's own presence in the film—as a narrator and character herself she frames the documentary with her own experiences, which grounded the movie (for me, at least). I saw "Youth Knows No Pain" at a preview screening in NY. You will experience lots of laughs and—notably—a sobering sense of reality about your own understanding of age.

Delightfully Honest Documentary

[jwalkerm48 · 10/10 · 14 August 2009]

I'm absolutely blown away by the Documentary I saw tonight. It was amazing how it became a Love Story of sorts, an Educational Piece and a Study in Transparancy (People being totally honest about how they really feel about their looks) all wrapped up into 1 totally mesmerizing film. Many surprises, many laughs and as intimate as can be. Brilliant Mitch....just Brilliant.

Found out it's going to be shown again in LA on August 19th at the Arc Light. Don't miss it. An hour and a half of total engagement on a subject that fascinates everyone. Plastic Surgery has never been documented...with all of it's nuances by such an informed observer.

UGH! Tepid tempest in a teapot

[nycruise-1 · 22 July 2009]

This movie centers on Mccabe's fascination with plastic surgery (she just can't let the memory of her father go) - and also her own fears of aging and whether she will end up like her father's patients, wanting to look young.

Well, it's all for naught - all that happens is that we hear testimony from people who have had surgery and why they did it, in particular one woman who is obsessed but who becomes friendly with the filmmaker (we're supposed to feel this portrait is more intimate than the others I guess).

Anyway, eventually the filmmaker herself starts wondering what she would have done - but in the end, the movie needs more surgery than Mitch will (although some might disagree with that assessment).

Saw this at a preview in New York: the audience was like WTF?