Cinema Paradiso (1988)
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Cinema Paradiso Movie Review
Cinema Paradiso is a 1988 Italian drama film directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and starring Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio. It’s such a charming, endearing movie.
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“Whatever you end up doing, love it.
The way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirt“
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A man reminisces about his childhood nostalgically and then we witness his obsession with movies and cinema in the late 40s. He develops a strong bond with a cinema projectionist and the two start a wonderful father-son friendship. Eventually, he comes back to the late old man’s house to find the movie composed of all the forbidden kissing scenes in films.
Yes, that ending is famous for being a major tear-jerker. Although I personally found it a bit emotionally manipulative, that emotion was still mostly earned thanks to strong characterization and an epic quality to the film so I certainly really enjoyed it. I personally did not cry, but I cannot deny that it’s an immensely moving, nostalgic and relatable finale.
As for the rest of the film, the first half is actually my favorite. I absolutely adored it. Following that cute boy and his friendship with the projectionist was wonderful and simply the ode to cinema itself and those classic movies and the joint experience of going to the cinema was beautiful. It showcases so well how important cinema was in that period when they didn’t have any other entertainment alternative.
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That was all great, but I was a bit disappointed in the film’s second half, apart from that glorious, famous finale of course. Yes, I found the entire romance thrown into the film very hastily and it was done rather weakly. Rushed, underwritten and maybe even unnecessary, I really did not care for it. And the same goes for the unnecessary sexual sequences which are I guess obligatory in Italian cinema.
Philippe Noiret is phenomenal as Alfredo and his performance is the only truly excellent one in the film. He’s fantastic and the character is simply incredibly endearing and even lovable. All of the others are underutilized. Salvatore Cascio is very cute as young Salvatore, but I really did not like the adult version of the character personally. But again, the relationship between these two drives the entire film.
Cinema Paradiso is superbly directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. It’s a shame that the director never really had another major hit film because here he showed a phenomenal grasp of epic, tender filmmaking and he made a glorious homage to classic cinema.
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The cinematography is splendid. The acting is mostly excellent and the film features a lot of memorable imagery and a fine attention to detail when it comes to the theater itself. It’s one of those movies which are epic in quality, yet still very much intimate, while showcasing a lot of the scenes with the crowds enjoying movies as well as the everyday life of the 40s. It’s a great glimpse into that time period and it entirely deserved its Oscar. It’s actually the second best foreign Oscar winner of the eighties after ‘Fanny and Alexander’.
Cinema Paradiso is an intimate, yet epic in quality film that features a highly memorable, moving ending and a phenomenal, very charming first half. The romance in the second half is underwritten and hasty, but the characterization is strong, the attention to detail is superb and the film offers a glimpse into the everyday lives of Italians during the late 40s and onward while particularly showcasing that period’s unprecedented importance and power of cinema.
