Cinema Paradiso is truly a great film everyone needs to experience!
“It’ll remind you why you fell in love with the movies in the first place.”
I’m sure you’ve heard that quote before. Most recently for Juno and any number of douchebag flicks that try to pass themselves off as something worthwhile or “the little movie that could”.
Cinema Paradiso is one of the few films that deserves to wholly embrace that quote.
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and released in 1988, this is a film not just about films but specifically about why we fall in love with films in the first place.
I don’t like to read film reviews before I experience them first so I’ll spare you the gratuitous critic’s review.
If a movie can be simultaneously melancholy and feel-good, this is just another of many reasons to experience this film. Once every couple of years, I have a nice little gathering with some of my closest friends, lots of food and wine, and we watch fall in love with this gem in order to remind ourselves why we fell in love with the movies and what it can still accomplish when done beautifully and done right.
Technically speaking Tornatore and his cinematographer uses a very minimalistic filmmaking approach in telling the story of Toto and Alfredo. He allows the actors, set, story and that awesome unforgettable Ennio Morricone score to propel us into their simple but beautiful world of old school village life where movies can mean anything from a place to escape from life or just from the parents.
The music!
Oh the music!
Another sign of a timeless, great movie is that everytime you watch it, it means something familiar yet so different to you as you grow older and more mature into life. This movie does just that and so much more.
Do yourself a favor and netflix or buy Cinema Pardiso: The New Version (There are two versions but the longer version is just so much better!). It’ll truly remind you why you fell in love with the movies in the first place.
Watch the New Version!
cap
May 1, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I F******** love this movie. It´s marvelous! The first time I saw was the first movie I cried, and I was 18.
I tried to see the last Tornatore´s flick in the Miami FilmFest but I can´t get tickets
May 1, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I agree. This is movie that everyone needs to watch as something like a chicken soup for the soul type thing. Between Toto, Alfredo, the shots of Italy, the music, the story, the girl, etc. It’s as pretty damn close to perfection as a movie can go.
I got friggin’ teary eyed just listening to the music alone.
Thanks for commenting!
cheers
cap