Cinema Paradiso (1988)

March 17, 2024 5:19 PM

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

Originally released in Italy to poor box office performance, it was shortened for international release. The international version won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes and the 1989 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Modern viewers should perhaps be warned that the executive who orchestrated this was none other than Harvey Weinstein.

Rotten Tomatoes calculates a 90% fresh rating from critics, virtually all of which are from the Extended DVD cut release in 2002.

Nathan Rabin, AV Club, reviews:

Driven relentlessly forward by Ennio Morricone's famous score, Paradiso runs on a cocktail of nostalgia, sentimentality, and cinephilia. Tornatore's affection for film permeates every frame, particularly the countless shots of adoring peasants gazing rapturously at the screen, but like its famous final scene, Paradiso is nothing but ecstatic climaxes. Tornatore seems intent on charming viewers into submission, but after a while all the wonder, awe, and movie magic become deadening.

Roger Ebert gave the extended cut 4 stars:

Seeing the longer version is a curious experience. It is an item of faith that the director of a film is always right, and that studios who cut films are butchers. Yet I must confess that the shorter version of "Cinema Paradiso" is a better film than the longer. Harvey was right. The 170-minute cut overstays its welcome, and continues after its natural climax.

Peter Bradshaw, Guardian, rates it 4/5 stars:

Cinema Paradiso is much loved, though I have occasionally been the man in the Bateman cartoon: the reviewer who confessed to finding Cinema Paradiso a bit sugary and the kid really annoying.

posted by pwnguin (1 comment total)

I didn't bother with the extended version, and I have to say, the Weinstein logo at the start of the film casts a long shadow over the film's central theme of sexuality. To pick one crude example, they cut the finding a lost connection arc but kept the scenes with teenage boys jerking it in a crowded theater. But perhaps there's a certain justice in that, for any film about the power of film is essentially a circlejerk anyways.
posted by pwnguin at 5:24 PM on March 17