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Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
Cinema Paradiso
Italy / France 1988
produced by Franco Cristaldi, Giovanna Romagnoli for Cristaldifilm, les Films Ariane, RAI, TF1
directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
starring Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Agnese Nano, Brigitte Fossey, Antonella Attili, Pupella Maggio, Leopoldo Trieste, Enzo Cannavale, Isa Danieli, Leo Gullotta, Tano Cimarosa, Nicola Di Pinto, Roberta Lena, Nino Terzo, Nellina Laganà, Turi Giuffrida, Mariella Lo Giudice, Giorgio Libassi, Beatrice Palme, Ignazio Pappalardo, Angela Leontini, Mimmo Mignemi, Margherita Mignemi, Giuseppe Pellegrino, Turi Killer, Angelo Tosto, Concetta Borpagano, Franco Catalano
story by Giuseppe Tornatore, screenplay by Giuseppe Tornatore, Vanna Paoli, music by Ennio Morricone
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Toto (played as a kid by Salvatore Cascio, as a teenager by Marco
Leonardi, as an adult by Jacques Perrin) is a successful filmmaker these
days, and really can't complain about the life he's living - when his
mother (Antonella Attili as the younger, Pupella Maggio as the older
version) calls him to tell him that Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), his sort-of
mentor, has died, and this makes him go back to his hometown he hasn't
seen for 30+ years immediately and sends him on a trip down memory lane
... Sicily, shortly after the war, Toto was pretty much mesmerized by
the moving pictures playing at the "Cinema Paradiso" in his
small village, and it wasn't just that he was a regular, he had even made
friends with the projectionist, Alfredo. But then some filmstock catches
fire, and Alfredo almost dies in the fire and is saved only by Toto's
timely intervention ... but Alfredo goes blind as a result - and the only
person in town to run the projector of the cinema is ... little Toto of
course. As a result he gets the job thanks to a rather generous
interpretation of child labour laws, and pretty much grows up in the
projection booth, more often than not in the company of Alfredo, who
despite being blind just can't abandon the one place he loved the most ... Fast
forward a few years, Toto's in his teens and experiences first love when
he meets Elena (Agnes Nano as a teen, Brigitte Fossey as an adult) - but
her parents are against their daughter's relationship with the poor
projectionist who seems happy enough with what he does that he'll never
amount to anything. The lovers try time and again to have it their own
way, but eventually Elena's parents decide on leaving Sicily altogether,
marrying Elena to some rich heir or other, and put an end to this. Toto
and Elena agree to meet one last time, but something goes wrong and they
don't succeed in even saying good-bye. And based on this, Alfredo urges
Toto to leave Sicily, to not be content with being a projectionist but aim
higher, much higher ... And we're back in the now, when Toto has aimed
much higher and hit the jackpot, filmmaker that he is. But still he has
lost his heart in his hometown on Sicily, and now that he comes back ... Now
Cinema Paradiso is nothing if not a highly sentimental movie, and
it's also one to at times topple over into clichés and kitsch. Plus the
film has certainly not set out to re-invent filmmaking but rather looked a
bit dusted already upon its release date ... and at least for a dedicated
movie fan, neither of this matters in the least, as this is a film that
not only is about movies and the process of cinema going of old (even in
the 1980s a slowly dying pastime), it really breathes cinema,
totally fulfilling the promise of its title. Consequently, the scenes that
stick out the most are those that show going to the movies as a collective
pastime, and one where the audience participated in the on-screen
goings-on much more than nowadays, too. But this is actually also mirrored
in the film's own narrative, which might be yet another Romeo
and Juliet-knock-off on the surface, but it's told in a
welcomely old-fashioned way that it really works awesomely well within the
golden age cinema narrative frame. That said, this movie's not one for
cold cynics, but if you'd like to re-feel the enjoyment you felt watching
movies on the big screen as a young one, then that one's totally for you!
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