| World Film Classics: Cinema Paradiso | |
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Cinema
Paradiso Director: Guiseppe Tornatore Starring: Antonielli Attli, Enzo Cannavale,
Isa Danieli, Leo Gullotta, Marco Leonardi, upella Maggio, Agnese Nano, Leopoldo
Trieste, Salvatore Cascio, Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret
Written
and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, and produced by Franco Cristaldi. Photographed
by Blasco Giurato. Edited by Mario Mora. Music by Ennio Morricone. In Italian
with English subtitles. Running time: 123 minutes.
It's out of a sense of nostalgia that I include this 1988 film here. Cinema
Paradiso was big success when it first came out (Special Jury Prize at Cannes,
and the Best Foreign Oscar), and it's still
the top-selling Italian film at Amazon. Director Giuseppe Tornatore managed
a bit of pure bittersweet candy here, and if you can resist it, you're probably
not human.
Cinema Paradiso tells the story of a boy in a small Italian village who falls in love with the movies. This being a picturesque village, the movies come in the shape of a big theater with rowdy crowds who throw stuff at the screen, make out, and make love during the film -- much to the chagrin of the priest, who prescreens the films and cuts out all the kisses (not unlike critics who ruin the best parts for their readers by giving them away in their reviews). The boy makes friends with the kindly old projectionist (the always wonderful Philip Noiret), and then he does some growing up, with all the ups, downs, accidents, farewells, and bittersweet returns this entails.
Part of me wants to knock this film for it's syrupy Ennio Morricone soundtrack, for the way the little boy laughs riding his bike in the sunshine, for the tacky love story, and for the way Tornatore relentlessly attacks our tear ducts in the end. I'd like to tell you that this is unabashed sentimental schlock at its worst, but that'd be dishonest because I weep like a puppy every time I watch this movie, even against my better judgment. Cinema Paradiso is a love letter to movies, culminating in a moment of pure wonder that gets me every time. I'd be lying to you if I told you that this movie was hokum. It's very, very powerful hokum. And that's really all we ever wanted from the movies in the first place, isn't it?
Especially in the light of Miramax's recent attempts of faking, packaging, and mass-producing the kind of sentimental and emotional punch of movies like this one, you have to hand it to the original: Cinema Paradiso is the real deal, a huge foreign crossover hit that pulls out all the stops. Like I said, if you can resist it, you might be from a different planet. This might not make it a great or profound movie, but certainly one you ought to have seen (and shed a few tears over) at least once.
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