 |
||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
CINEMA PARADISO Best Foreign Film, 1988 - 5-Star Masterpiece Autobiographical Masterpiece of Youth and Love Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful three-part love letter to cinema by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore. The first part is about the relationship between a fatherless Sicilian boy (Salvatore Cascio) and the man who runs the projector in the local cinema (Philippe Noiret). The second is about the boy as a handsome young man (Marco Leonardi), who takes over his projectionist friend's job, and his relationship with a beautiful girl (Antonella Attili) that is above him socially. The third is about the same boy as a grown man (Jacques Perrin) who has travelled to Rome and become a professional filmmaker. He is returning to his home town to bury his friend, the projectionist. While there, he revisits the theatre where he had so many wonderful experiences, goes to his friend's funeral, watches the destruction of the theatre, and looks up his old girl friend (Brigitte Fossey), who is now married. The theatrical version of Cinema Paradiso focuses on the first two parts; the director's cut includes all three. I love the theatrical version: it is fresh and innocent, with the boy showing a lot of courage and personality, and the projectionist a bulwark of vulnerability and compassion. The first part is touching and funny. The second, about the young man and his socialite heartthrob, is sweetly romantic. Returning home to bury his friend brings closure to the first relationship. There is also a very special present that the older man has left to his protege that is surprising and wonderful. Dragging out the third part by having the couple reunite as adults is just too much. It may fulfill some autobiographical need for the filmmaker, but it is unnecessary, even distracting, to the story. We don't need to know what has happened to the girl; and, in fact, it creates a satisfying mystery for us not to know. What's most important is what has happened to the filmmaker. He has grown from the delightful boy and passionate young man into an accomplished artist. His personal life has not been fulfilling, so why expound on it? What's important is that he has become what his friend the projectionist had hope he would: a famous director. He has fulfilled their shared dream. There is tremendous pathos in the final scene, when he opens his friend's present. It illustrates their love for each other and their shared love for cinema, which is really what the film is about. No one does the innocence of childhood, the passion of youth and the pathos of adulthood like the Italians. They really understand the various stages of life. They are earthy, robust people, in touch with their emotions. Their films are the same. Besides passion, they infuse their culture, and even their religion, with humor. All this comes through in Cinema Paradiso. It is a wonderful masterpiece of youth and love that reflects filmmaker Tornatore's own journey through life. |
||||||||||||||||
 |
close window | |
make a comment | |
order DVD | |||||||||||