Youth is the time of life when one is young, but the spirit of the heart is more important. Everybody gets old one day. How do we look upon life with a peaceful and graceful mind when we are old and we find the conflict between youth and old, desire and fear? Youth tries to tell a story of getting old and facing the concomitant loneliness, a story of the eternal struggle between age and youth, the past and the future, life and death, commitment and betrayal, but not to find the answer. It is a 2015 Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino. It is the director’s second English language film. The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or and had a positive critical response.

Stars, Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as best friends, Fred Ballinger and Mick Boyle, who reflect on their lives while holidaying in the Swiss Alps. The two friends are old, and Fred is a retired composer and conductor, but Mick still works as a film director. Fred’s daughter and Mick’s son are of a couple whose marriage is on the breaking edge. Fred and Mick observe all guests curiously in the hotel, the beautiful Miss Universe, the enthusiastic young writer, the monk, and so on. From the beginning to the end, the film dexterously handles such strong comparison between young and old as the wrinkled and smooth flesh, the energetic and dispirited movement, the slim and fat posture, in the same place, at the same time, but never conflicting. Just in a quiet and luxury hotel, far from noisy cities, everything happens reasonably.

Stars skillfully use chopsticks for Chinese food.

There is a meal in the film, Chinese food. All stars, Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, and other actors and actress, skillfully use chopsticks for Chinese food. That is amazing. For most westerners, they seldom have the chance to use chopsticks at home or outside, so they can’t practice the skills. There is a saying that diligence redeems stupidity, but an almost useless skill is really not worth practicing. And, there’s rarely anyone who’ll take the time to teach them the correct form or motions. Even for Chinese people, they have to exercise for years from the childhood to master the profound skill.

The meal may be a breakfast. The film doesn’t mean to show what they eat, but show the atmosphere and mood, so it can’t tell what the foods are. But from the glimpse of the picture, some exquisite Chinese snacks are shown. Chinese snacks are of very important part of Chinese food. They may be made from flour, rice, meat, vegetables, and other unnamed eatable things to strengthen the flavor, which increases people’s appetite considerably. It is very pleasant for talking, and story goes smoothly to reveal the plot.

Western fare and Chinese food, a comparison of young and old?

The film brightly makes things of sharp contrast together to highlight the theme of the story, and something is dealt with metaphors, maybe. Take the Chinese food for an example. Located at the foot of the Alps Mountain, in Eastern Switzerland, the Waldhaus Flims hotel is the main location for the film, where is a splendid place for vocation. I have checked the hotel menu, and find that no Chinese food is served. Of course, further on-the-spot investigation might be required to confirm that. And the film directors rack their brains to arrange a Chinese meal, and why?

Well, the knife and fork for west meals has a short history. In the early stage, people just used a knife which was not exactly tableware but multifunctional. It was used to kill, anatomize or cut the prey. When the prey was cooked, the knife was used to eat meat. Until 15th century, because the knife was sometimes dangerous to take the meat into the mouth, the fork was invented to replace the knife to take food into the mouth. From then on, the knife and fork formed a dinner service. Until 17th century, England upper class began to use three-point fork, and modern four-point fork was used until 18th century.

The Chinese chopsticks have been in use for thousands of years. According to recorded history, the chopsticks history can be traced back to the11th century B.C., when the King used the ivory chopsticks which was first documented. The Chinese chopsticks which simply contain two small slender sticks are based on the lever principle. They can be made of bamboo, wood, plastic or metal, or luxury ivory, gold and silver.

In the film, the short-history knife and fork and the long-history chopsticks are just like a young man and an old man, just like the youth and the old. In one way, the comparison is part of the artistic conception in the film. The knife and fork and chopsticks have their path and experience, but along the way they meet somewhere to look up each other. They have different ways of doing things, where the conflict arises, and it’s part of life. On the other hand, the knife and fork and chopsticks were used in the past, are being used now, and will be used in the future. Just like that the conflict and comparison of the young and the old is always there. They exist, and they must be reasonable, but we have to look through the conflict and comparison to look into the future.

Who are our ancestors? Who is the first to walk on earth? Who are their nearest relatives? Why do they survive while others tend to die? Human never stop exploring the human origin. Since Darwin created biological evolution theory, most people believe that human is the product of biological evolution, and modern people and modern apes had a common ancestor. Even so, people keep studying every trace that points to the origin of human.

The film Prometheus begins with the search of human origin, but it turns to be an Alien film. The Alien film series is very popular all over the world, which was started in 1979. The terrible procedure of the Alien growth that it is oviparous but finally grows up to a powerful monster after parasiting in the human body is very impressive as a typical screen image. But the past Alien film series never tell the cause where the Alien comes from. Prometheus is a 2012 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, and starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, and Charlize Theron. It is set in the late 21st century when the crew members of the spaceship Prometheusas that follows a star map discovered among the artifacts of several ancient Earth cultures find the Creator’s planet. In the underground cave which turns out to be a spaceship, with the help of the robot named David, the crew members find the Creator’s remains, and the Creator’s DNA matches human’s. And the crew finds a survival of the Creator, but the Creator is to destroy human with the biological weapon that is stored in the spaceship. At the moment when the Creator launches the spaceship towards Earth, the crew crashes up to the spaceship. The Creator vents his anger on Doctor Shaw who is one of the initiators to begin the trip to the Creator’s planet. In the fight, the mutated biological weapon kills and parasites the Creator, and the first Alien is born.

The beautiful Doctor Shaw eats Chinese food after exploration.

After the first exploration from the Creator’s ship, Doctor Shaw finds that the Creator’s DNA matches human’s, which really makes her excited. When the DNA matching experiment is done, she picks up chopsticks to eat Chinese food, recording the important discovery with the recorder. And Doctor Shaw’ husband comes in with a fresh rose. American always find romance everywhere. In the two-year-long journey in the space, how could people get a fresh rose for flirting? Maybe we are interesting with the question, and the husband gives the answer. He says the rose is frozen with the champagne, and when they find what they came for, he will pick out to give to the wife. But Doctor Shaw’ husband is more interested in lovemaking with Doctor Shaw. The Chinese food, or the rose, is just a snack before sex. But this is the very intercourse that gives birth to the Alien. Well, audients cannot help wondering that the Alien would not be born if Doctor Shaw doesn’t have the spirit for the intercourse without the Chinese food. So, why do they carry the Chinese food with them?

The film does not show the detail of the Chinese food, and we just can barely catch a glimpse of the food between the chopsticks. They look green, like some kind of vegetables. Considering the two yeas long journey in the space, only the robot David drives the ship, and others are asleep, so the vegetables are not fresh, and they must be preserved food.

The reason people carry Chinese food with them in the space.

The film deliberately shows the chopsticks twice in the narration. The first time is when the crew are woken up by the robot David to have their first meal, and the second is when Doctor Shaw eats Chinese food and then make love with her husband. I don’t know why, as it is not necessary in the space. The chopsticks are easy and portable to carry, but the Chinese food is difficult to preserve. Maybe they just carry chopsticks with them, because the film never shows the Chinese food. But if there is not Chinese food, what they carry chopsticks for? For eating steak?

The first reason maybe is that there is one American Chinese on the ship. American always advocates democracy and love, and the same spirit is expressed in the film with the specific particulars. Everyone who sees the film would be deeply moved that the crew is so thoughtful to prepare for everybody, and feels that everybody is equally respected, and feels love. Analysts say that American films successfully implement American values and humanistic concern, and that is how they achieve the goal in every tiny thing.

The second reason maybe is the same as the rose, for it is just a stage property to make the film more comfortable. After the landing on the planet, the crew members wear the space suit to go out. Doctor Shaw’ husband asks robot David why David wear the space suit because he doesn’t need breathing. David says that people feel more comfortable to interact with their own kind, so he is designed to do that. It is the same reason that people feel more comfortable to live in their own environment under which they can complete the mission better, including the food and the way they eat the food. Just like the rose before the sex makes the sex more exciting.