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Cinema Paradiso
RRP: £10.60
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film about a little boy's love affair with the movies deservedly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Philippe Noiret plays a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck. This isn't just one of those films for people who are already in love with the cinema. But if you are one of those folks, the emotional resonance between the action in Tornatore's world and the images on Noiret's screen will seem all the greater--and the finale all the more powerful. --Tom Keogh
I also prefer the shorter cut
Review date: 2008-11-01 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is my favourite film of all time, but the director's cut is over explained. The original was perfect. You don't need to know what happened between Salvatore and his first love. What you really need to know is all there in the shorter version. I was horrified when I watched the director's cut, it became a trite film, without the magic of the version I knew and loved. If anything, the longer version would suit american audiences better, as everything is explained to death.
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Reviews
A Very Beautiful Film
Review date: 2008-01-26 Rating: 10 out of 10
I loved this film (Director's cut) version. Most of the positives I should agree with in other comments. It may be too long for the typical cinema audience, but I should certainly recommend it to anyone who loves a film with depth, humour, love and a touch of life philosophy.
One of the all time best
Review date: 2007-09-07 Rating: 10 out of 10
If you have ever felt the joy, triumph, loss or pain that the people we meete and a twist of fate can bring about in the lives of all of us, then see this film, and make sure it is the director's cut, which explains why the lovers are parted. There are enough superlatives written about the story, direction, cinematography, acting, music, etc. I can add little to that except to say that this is, and will remain one of my all time top 10. It is real, human, transcending everyday cares. It will lift the spirit time and again
The longer version is even better
Review date: 2007-07-27 Rating: 10 out of 10
The short version is a lovely film, no doubt about it. The longer version, however, explains the end of the love story, and even more important, fully reveals Alfredo's role in sending Toto out into the world, to free himself from everything that binds him to the past, even the woman he loves. We find out that he does reconnect with his lost love, and though this love is lost to them on one level, on another it is still there: it is the past. The longer version also shows you, in a scene of literally 2 seconds, what would have happened to Toto had he beat his boyhood rival for her affections. It is a great moment of cinematic efficiency, and depth, wordlessly explaining that Alfredo's gift to Toto is the pain of growing, growing up but also growing beyond the confines of one's roots, and sparing him from the alternative. The long version also gives full meaning to the final scene, the long-lost censored images of denied on-screen love. Yes, the love of his life has aged -- their time is past. But on film love remains forever young, forever beautiful, and forever magic. This is a film about and for anyone who loves cinema.
Prefer the old version.
Review date: 2007-07-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
I'm probably going to be accused of sacrilege, but I preferred the old (cut) version. Admittedly, I came to the Director's Cut only recently, but I can't see how the restored cuts improve an already brilliant film. The newly-revealed scenes between the two former sweethearts are cloying and melodramatic, and have a detrimental effect on the pace of the film. I felt that the older Toto was better represented as an enigmatic character with an unresolved emotional agenda.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Leo Gullotta
Enzo Cannavale
Isa Danieli
Antonella Attili
Philippe Noiret
Creators:
Philippe Noiret (Primary Contributor)
Enzo Cannavale (Primary Contributor)
Blasco Giurato (Cinematographer)
Giuseppe Tornatore (Writer)
Mario Morra (Editor)
Franco Cristaldi (Producer)
Gabriella Carosio (Producer)
Giovanna Romagnoli (Producer)
Vanna Paoli (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Umbrella Entertainment
Manufacturer: Umbrella Entertainment
EAN: 9322225009424
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2003-04-04
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Region code: 2
Running time: 170 minutes
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Original Language)