A word of warning before we begin: This is one of those movies. You know the kind: a dense, artsy and weird movie. It's the kind of film where, if asked to describe it, I'd normally answer something to the tune of, "Uh, it's about this guy, and, uh ... You know what? You just have to see it for yourself." But, as a film critic, I'm not permitted that luxury. This causes me a bit of difficulty when it comes to reviewing films that are artistic masterpieces, but contain elements without an obvious meaning or moral. My interpretation could be radically different from yours, and both of us would be right because it's art.

Speaking of art ...

In The Great Beauty, the latest from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, we first meet Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) on his 65th birthday, or more appropriately, at his 65th bacchanalian birthday party. It makes sense really: What better way for an independently wealthy, affluent citizen of Rome to celebrate becoming ancient than partying like a literal ancient Roman? The trouble is that Jep's played the part of the epicurean playboy for almost 40 years by the time we meet him. While our first introduction makes Jep look like the luckiest man ever, for him it's just Day 14,235 in the nonstop Mardi gras that his life has become. After drinking so many cocktails, dancing in so many conga lines, bedding so many belle donne and basically burning the candle at both ends with a flamethrower for pert near four decades,Jep is finally starting to feel the touch of time. Jep's growing awareness of his own mortality coupled with the death of a former lover - perhaps the only woman he ever truly loved - leaves Jep pining for the joie de vivre of his younger years, but to which his hedonistic lifestyle has rendered him almost totally numb. Jep embarks on a quest to rediscover the beauty in his life while he still has a few good years left in him. Fortunately, Jep lives in Rome, a city filled with all kinds of beauty.

Then, there are the more esoteric parts of the film: a nude, blindfolded woman deliberately running headfirst into the side of an aqueduct, a semi-catatonic hundred-year-old nun, a vanishing giraffe and so much more. I will leave analyzing those bits of Lynchian insanity in this otherwise straightforward, Fellini-esque narrative in your capable hands, Dear Reader. (I don't like arguing with anyone about anything, least of all with or about disappearing giraffes.)

Sorrentino spins a gorgeously-shot, well-paced and entertaining tale about a man simultaneously bored with life and not quite ready for it to end. Aging, death, and what gives our lives true meaning while we're here are subjects that everyone can relate to because each of us will be compelled to address them at some point in our lives. Sorrentino's direction coupled with Servillo's brilliant performance explores these themes in a way that is both compelling, honest and yes. ...

Beautiful.

THE GREAT BEAUTY, opens Friday, Feb. 21, The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett, Tacoma, $4.50-$9, 253.593.4474