Elegy

I wasn't sure I wanted to see Gandhi as a dirty old man, but it turned out to be alright. Ben Kingsley is quite good in this coming of age drama disguised as a "melancholy poem". He successfully transitions from a creeper to a sympathetic old guy, realizing at the age of sixty something what it means to finally be a twenty something, and to grow into the maturity that is required for real emotion, relationship and responsibility. As Kingsley's character David becomes involved with the young Penelope Cruz, he recognizes for perhaps the first time in his life that there are emotions bigger than he can control and that they may actually mean something (and be worth something). Cruz is old beyond her years and is able to bring Kingsley along eventually into a new appreciation for life. This is a better version of the 2007 Starting Out in the Evening with Frank Langella and Lauren Ambrose.
3-stars