Cinéma Paradiso

This movie is wonderful. It really captures a sense of nostalgia many of us harbor in our own lives. I don't know why I put off seeing it for so long. A little boy grows up loving movies (movie people in their narcissism love movies about movies) and is mentored by an older guy who sees big things in the kid's future. A rose tinted view of youth, love, and times that never seem to stop changing is what follows and a wonderful story it makes for. One of the few movies to get a grasp on childhood along with Stand By Me, The Sandlot, and a few others. Another movie that could benefit greatly from an English dub, as too many people are too likely to avoid subtitles at all costs.

Movies can wield a strange power over those who sit in the darkened seats of a theatre. The truly great ones manipulate your perception of reality, suspend your disbelief, and ultimately either alter or affirm your view on life. NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO is just such a movie. It is the near-perfect melding of direction, acting, script, sound track, and cinematography. Phillipe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio give the kind of performances usually associated with much more recognizable actors. The supporting cast looks like they could all be full-blooded Sicilians. The location shots add depth and realism to the entire production. Ennio Morricone's music is simply the most appropriate and emotive I have ever had the pleasure to hear in a theatre. Tornatore's script and direction are a joy, a breath of fresh air.

I will not spoil this story by repeating it, nor will I give away the ending, although it matters not a whit. I could disclose fully everything in this movie, and in seeing it, all my words would evaporate. There is nothing like the experience of sitting through it, becoming engulfed by it, and in the end, being changed.

Whether you are a professional or an amateur it is always wise to avoid superlatives with regard to a movie critique ... but I cannot. 'Cinema Paradiso' is simply the finest movie I have ever seen. Like many who have posted at this site before me I have seen it many many times. It reaches within me to places other movies have never reached and I have often wondered why. Perhaps it is because of it's simplicity. It contains no expensive special effects, it has no gratuitous sex or violence, it has no "multi-millon dollar per performance" actors that I know of, it is arguable whether it even has a story line, and yet it soars far above the nonsense that film makers are producing these days. It's characters are portrayed by each and every actor in award winning style and the music is not only beautiful but absolutely perfect for this film.

It is quite simply the story of a human life and it's tragedies and triumphs within the context of a vocation. A young boy matures and gradually learns the lessons of life, cultivates his passion for the cinema, and is rewarded with professional success; however, he remains unfulfilled for true love has escaped him only to return in the form of a gift of love which transcends time, space, and death to reveal at the closing of the film Toto's one true mistress.

A staggering triumph of both the cinematic art and of story telling and yet there may be found people who do not like this movie .... I tend to keep such people at arms length and maintain a wary eye fixed upon them at all times.

I seldom watch Italian movies, (i saw it today for the first time) being Italian maybe i'm biased, but this one really stands out. A real masterpiece; i can't remember another movie so moving like this one, maybe Schindler's list; it makes you laugh and it makes you cry, yet it is so simple and straightforward. Maybe there lies its magic: no Hollywood superstars, no special effects, just pure emotions and feelings, love, fear, grief and regret, nostalgia for childhood and youth, memories of places and times that will not come back, memories of the loved ones. Some movies are there to entertain, some to scare, some to question. This movie is there to affect your feelings. Definitely to be seen.

The centre of attraction in the town, a screen where everybody gathers round, showing films in black and white, bringing joy, pleasure, delight, as the reels rotate, the story is unwound. Toto's mesmerised by all he sees and hears, the picture house is where he flees and cheers, getting in Alfredo's way, mischievous eyes so full of play, Father Adelfio, still collars him for prayers. As he gets older more distractions then appear, conscription, briefly ends all premieres, a girl captures his young heart, sends his pulse right off the chart, then comes the time, when he moves on, goes overseas.

Toto's growing up in a small town in Sicily, with the joys of cinematic adventure, amongst a group of characters destined to remain as set in their ways as those captured in Pompeii. But there's always someone to help you change direction, point you at the stars and help you on your way, you just need to find them and then listen.

Still as beautiful and as elegant as it ever was.