***The Following is a Review of the Short, 123 Minute Version of the Film***

There's no greater experience than seeing a film in the theater with the film projector unveiling lasting images that would change lives. For some, it could be something as profound and jaw-dropping as a film by the likes of Federico Fellini or Ingmar Bergman. For others, it could be something like Star Wars or a film as dreamy and enchanting as Lost in Translation. In 1989, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore released a film that enchanted film buffs all over the world about a film director who returns to his home village to attend the funeral of a man who would introduce him to the cinema. The film was known in Italy as Nuovo Cinema Paradiso but to the world, it's simply Cinema Paradiso.

Written and directed by Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso tells the story of a film director recalling the memories of his life when a man introduces him as a boy the world of cinema. Through the images, the cinema is played in a little village in Sicily while causing all sorts of controversy. Through his years growing up, the boy becomes a man and has to learn about the sacrifices and such into what it takes to become the director that he is now. Starring Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, and Leopoldo Trieste. Cinema Paradiso is an inspiring, heartwarming masterpiece from Giuseppe Tornatore.

One night in Rome, a man (Jacques Perrin) is returning home to his apartment where he learned from a girlfriend that his mother (Pupella Maggio) had called. She told him a man named Alfredo ( Philippe Noiret) had just passed away. The man known as Salvatore is lying on his bed recalling his own childhood as a boy (Salvatore Cascio) who worked at the church as an altar boy by day. Living in a small town in Sicily with his mother (Antonella Attili) and little sister, Salvatore who was then called Toto was fascinated by the town square he lived in. Notably for a theater called Cinema Paradiso where he would watch movies by the likes of Jean Renoir, Luchino Visconti, and Charlie Chaplin. One day, he saw a Renoir film with his priest Father Adelfio (Leopoldo Trieste) watching the film. Every time a kiss is shown, the priest rings his bell in order for everything to be cut by Alfredo, the theater's projectionist.

Toto would often sneak into the theater along with several people including a man who often sleeps there, another man with a bushy mustache, a glasses-wearing man who would sit on the balcony and spit down, and a crazy man (Nicola Di Ponti) who claims the square belongs to him. Though he would often get in trouble by his mother, Alfredo would often save him as they befriend each other while Toto would sometime steal cut film frames to see the images. During another incident in which Toto would get in trouble, Alfredo couldn't help him in order not to get into any trouble. Toto then learns something about Alfredo where the two strike a deal. Toto would learn the trade of being a projectionist as they would show different movies to the people in town. One night, during a double feature, people outside of the theater want to see the film. Deciding to give the people what they want, it seemed for a while, a magical moment until an incident causes the theater to burn down.

Despite what happened, one of the town's residents named Spaccafico (Enzo Cannavale) had gotten rich from a lottery and used his money to rebuild Cinema Paradiso with Toto as the new projectionist. With Alfredo his mentor, Toto (Marco Leonardi) is now almost a man where at age 17, he has newfound aspirations in becoming a filmmaker. Showing several new films, especially from the neorealists of the era, he finds himself awestruck by a young woman named Elena (Agnese Nano). Smitten, he seeks to win her over as he asks Alfredo for advice where his mentor understands his feelings. Salvatore hopes to win her heart which he eventually does but learning that real life isn't like the movies, he's forced to contend with newfound realities. When Elena is gone, Salvatore ponders his own future. Only Alfredo tells him what he must do as he's forced to leave the town and theater he loved in order to make his future as a film director.

Now as a success and as an adult, Salvatore returns home to see that not only the town has changed but so has the square while the theater he loved is in ruins. Learning that the times have changed, he receives a final present from his late mentor while pondering if all the sacrifices he made had been worth it.

While the film isn't just a love letter to cinema, it's also a coming of age story of how cinema changed a boy's young life into the man that he is now. The film is also about sacrifices in what the adult Salvatore is forced to see with the people he knew all those years ago. Writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore creates a film that is obvious from an experience that is personal to him. The film's script is wonderfully structured with the first act about Toto, his friendship with Alfredo, and his life at the Cinema Paradiso in its first incarnation. The second act is about the theater rebuilt with Salvatore as the projectionist and his attraction to Elena. The third and final act is about his departure from Sicily and his return 30 years later.

Tornatore's direction is imaginative as it has elements of nostalgia and heartbreak where the images he captures inside that beautiful theater is a reminder of how powerful an image on film is. From the way he takes a close-up to understand the emotions to how the film shifts from one period to another. Given the fact that he shot the film on location in Sicily, it has a personal feel that it's very inspirational. The whole film is mesmerizing from start to finish where by the final moments of the film, it becomes a tearjerker in every way. Some might call it manipulative but given the idea of what the film is about and Tornatore's personal touch, it's one that works in channeling its emotions. It's truly some of the most imaginative and touching directions ever made on film.

Cinematographer Blasco Giurato brings a wonderful look to the film features gorgeous, exterior shots from day and night to the look inside the theater that is just amazing. Production designer Andrea Cristani creates an amazing look of the theater from the lion's head that shoots out the film to the balcony in the theater. The theater itself is a place filled with magic and elegance. Costume designer Beatrice Bordone does an excellent job in capturing the look of the clothes worn in the 1940s and 1950s, notably the dresses that Elena wears. Editor Mario Morra does some wonderful work in the cutting, notably the shifting of sequences where Alfredo touches the boy Toto's face and then cuts to Alfredo and then cuts to the face of the young Salvatore. Sound recordist Massimo Loffredi does some magic in the sound to capture the way people react to a film shown outside of the theater in one brilliant scene.

The film's amazingly elegant, romantic film score could've been done by any composer but instead, it goes to the Maestro himself, Ennio Morricone. Along with a love theme by his daughter Andrea, the film's music is filled with lush arrangements and piano melodies to convey the sense of nostalgia, sentimentality, and passion that is the film itself. Morricone's musical approach is different from the legendary, operatic work that he's done with Sergio Leone. Instead, the score is very dramatic but not the point of suspense or action but rather taking it in a smoother, softer tone that shows the innocence of the film and its protagonists. The score that Ennio Morricone makes is truly one of the film's grand highlights.

Finally, there's the film's cast that includes some notable yet memorable small roles from Isa Danieli as Alfredo's wife Anna, Roberta Lena as Salvatore's sister Lia, Tano Cimarosa as the sleepy blacksmith, Nino Terza as the father of Toto's friend who is a regular at the theater, and Nicola Di Pinto as the village idiot who claims the town's square is his. Enzo Cannavale is good as Spaccafico, a resident who wins the lottery and gives the town a new theater while late in the film, reminisces with Salvatore about the town now and how he couldn't relate to the changing times. Antonella Attili is great as the young mother of Salvatore who is hoping for the return of her husband from the war while dealing with his passion. Pupella Maggio is also great as the old mother who seems to understand her son and his grief.

Agnese Nano brings an amazing presence as the very beautiful Elena who provides the kind of love and distraction that Salvatore needed while representing the alternative he needed if there was another life. Leopoldo Trieste is good as the town's strict priest who is convinced that he's trying to protect his town only to find himself having trouble with the changing times in movies.

In the three roles of Salvatore, the best is easily Salvatore Cascio as the boy Toto with his winning smile, carefree innocence, and mischievous personality who is the kind of boy you can just enjoy. Marco Leonardi is also excellent as the young Salvatore with his youthful energy and confusion in trying to figure out what to do with life. His role is the more complex as he's playing a young man trying to figure out where to go. Jacques Perrin is excellent in his brief role as the older Salvatore that also has the same innocence in his face as his child counterpart had while carrying a sense of sadness about his own life.

The film's best performance goes to the late Philippe Noiret as Alfredo. Noiret brings a wonderful mix of humor, wisdom, and sentimentality to the role of a man who becomes an unlikely father figure to a young boy in playing a role in his life. The French actor has a wonderful presence early in the film as a mentor who shows a young boy about the wonders of cinema. In the film's second half, his experience on life helps the course of the film while telling Salvatore what to do about his life. It's a great performance from the late French actor who wowed Italy.

The film was released in 1988 to a poor reception at first due to its near 180-minute cut where it would later be re-released with an hour of the film cut. Whereas usually, films that are cut from its original time don't manage to do well with critics or film goers. Instead, the short cut that was released internationally drew raves all over the world including a win for Best Foreign-Language Film in 1989. The film's success manages to endure over the years that in 2002, Giuseppe Tornatore released his director's cut all over the world that drew the same acclaim his shorter version had. While Tornatore never achieved the same success he had with Cinema Paradiso with his other releases that included 1998's The Legend of 1900 with Tim Roth and 2000's controversial film Malena with Italian sex goddess Monica Bellucci (that remains unseen in its uncut version in the U.S. aside from the Internet). Tornatore still continues to make films that are acclaimed in his native Italy.

In the end, for anyone who loves movies, Cinema Paradiso is a film that everyone must see. Whether in its short version or longer cut, it's still a film that everyone must see. Fans of Italian cinema will no doubt consider this one of the essentials as well as foreign film buffs. Yet, it's a film that's very accessible to anyone that enjoys movies. In the end, for a film that will make you feel happy, sad, or anything that is to love about films, Cinema Paradiso is the film to go see.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12