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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Cinema Paradiso" is the
poignant tale of Toto (seamlessly played by three
different actors -- Salvatore Casico as a child,
Marco Leonardi as a teenager and Jacque Perrin as
middle age man.
Toto is a young and impoverished Italian boy who,
after the death of his father in WWII, comes to
love the movies when a lonely projectionist,
Alfredo (Philip Noiret) allows him a back stage
pass into the world of fantasy. However, Toto soon
learns that life and fiction don't co-exist in a
world of all too real heartaches and tragedy. When
Alfredo's sight is taken away from him during a
fire that decimates the modest movie house, Toto
drops out of school to assume his responsibilities
in the newly constructed movie palace that takes
its place. But Toto's future is forever changed
when he meets the lovely, Elena (Agnese Nano).
Their passionate rendezvous are thwarted by her
stoic father and Toto's admission into the Italian
army. The rest of the plot is best left up to
one's own experience. But bring Kleenex to this
masterfully told tale of young love.
There are two versions of the film on this
collector's edition disc: the original theatrical
cut that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a
new director's cut that is 59 minutes longer.
Trust me on this one: you want to see the
director's cut. It fleshes out character
motivation in the latter half of the story in ways
that make the viewing experience so much richer.
Both versions have been digitally remastered in
anamorphic widescreen. The original cut is
presented in Dolby Stereo, the new version in 5.1.
But the original theatrical cut is visually rather
lackluster by direct comparison to the director's
cut -- with overly dark contrast levels and
subdued colors. Nevertheless, age-related
artifacts are limited and aliasing, edge
enhancement and some pixelization inherent in the
original release are not present on the special
edition. Overall the film looks very clean.
Nothing can detract from the performances --
there's not one fault in this beautifully told
masterpiece.
A genuine shame is that there are no extras to
augment this double bill. But I implore,
regardless: you must see "Cinema Paradiso."
Brilliant, poignant, tragic, but ultimately a
moving experience that -- in this age of digitally
generated this and reality based that -- will make
you remember why it is that we all go to the
movies! Paradiso is the reason why celluloid was
invented. A must! |
