Day 117: Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Movie #76 – Cinema Paradiso (1988) - 124 min, cert PG.

A respected Italian film director, Salvatore Di Vita, hears from his mother for the first time in thirty years to find out that Alfredo, a friend, has died. We then flashback to Salvatore’s childhood which he spent living in a small town in Sicily. There was no television, so the entire village used to gather at the local cinema. Salvatore fell in love with the cinema and the movies it showed and pestered Alfredo the projectionist until he reluctantly agreed to teach him how to run the equipment in his booth. The two become close friends, and when the cinema is destroyed by a terrible fire, it is the young Salvatore that pulls Alfredo from the flames. He saves Alfredo’s life, but the old man is left blind. The cinema is rebuilt, new equipment is installed, and despite his tender age, Salvatore is the only person in town capable of running it so he gets the job.

I think the more into movies, particularly old movies, you are, the more you’ll get out of this one. It’s a movie with a deep affection for the industry, so anyone who shares that affection will empathise with the main characters. Plus, it is undoubtedly a well-made movie. So it ticks all the right boxes for the movie critics and reviewers who all loved it. Personally, I found it quite watchable, and pleasant enough. I don’t know if I’ll ever watch it again, and I’m not sure that I feel strongly enough about the characters to want to sit through the extra 51 minutes of additional material in the Director’s Cut which fills in some of the gaps in the story.

Score – 6/10. Pleasant enough, but I’m just not into old films enough to get the most out of it.

Next up is the bizarre-looking Spanish offering Pan’s Labyrinth. It looks pretty weird but I’ll give it a go.