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"Cinema Paradiso" (1988), Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, Produced by Franco Cristaldi and Giovanna Romagnoli - Starring Phillipe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, and Jacques Perrin


DonRocks

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Yeah, *you* try and watch the ending without tearing up.

A friend asked me what one word would I use to describe what this movie was about - I didn't have an answer. We watched it together, and she correctly replied, "friendship." Yes, perfect.

Friendship - beautiful, untainted, pure friendship.

I'm pretty sure that I've only seen two of Tornatore's films in my life: "Cinema Paradiso," (his second) and "Everybody's Fine,"  (his third) - both fantastic pictures (the latter starring the misty-eyed Marcello Mastroianni).

I'm not going to summarize the plot because I think the whole concept of that (in this day and age) is silly; suffice it to say, it's just a great movie that merits all accolades heaped onto it.

"Cinema Paradiso" is a movie I love, and a movie that will bring tears to your eyes unless you have no heart. It's beautifully realized, directed, filmed, and acted, and I recommend it highly to those of you who wish to watch an intelligent film that will have you choking up at the end.

How beautiful can a movie be? Well, it can be - if it's extremely well-done - *this* beautiful. Please do yourselves a favor and watch it. I believe you'll thank me, and I relish your upcoming comments about this film.

It's just ... beautiful. I recently saw it for the second time, and I would love to see it again for a third.

Beautiful.

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On 10/9/2014 at 11:31 PM, DonRocks said:

Yeah, *you* try and watch the ending without tearing up.

A friend asked me what one word would I use to describe what this movie was about - I didn't have an answer. We watched it together, and she correctly replied, "friendship." Yes, perfect.

Friendship - beautiful, untainted, pure friendship.

I'm pretty sure that I've only seen two of Tornatore's films in my life: "Cinema Paradiso," (his second) and "Everybody's Fine,"  (his third) - both fantastic pictures (the latter starring the misty-eyed Marcello Mastroianni).

I'm not going to summarize the plot because I think the whole concept of that (in this day and age) is silly; suffice it to say, it's just a great movie that merits all accolades heaped onto it.

"Cinema Paradiso" is a movie I love, and a movie that will bring tears to your eyes unless you have no heart. It's beautifully realized, directed, filmed, and acted, and I recommend it highly to those of you who wish to watch an intelligent film that will have you choking up at the end.

How beautiful can a movie be? Well, it can be - if it's extremely well-done - *this* beautiful. Please do yourselves a favor and watch it. I believe you'll thank me, and I relish your upcoming comments about this film.

It's just ... beautiful. I recently saw it for the second time, and I would love to see it again for a third.

Beautiful.

Totally agree with all this - I can't even watch the opening credits without tearing up (think it's that the scoring is the same as the end) after watching the movie several times.

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Do yourself a favor and never, ever watch the extended Director's Cut.  It will crush too many things that one holds dear about this film, or that were better left to the imagination - and indeed that the viewer was pushed to imagine by the awkward edits of the original US release.

Remember that sense of unforgivable betrayal when you first watched _Highlander II_?  Or the midichlorian scene in _The Phantom Menace_?  Same.

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On 4/13/2017 at 10:47 PM, ol_ironstomach said:

Do yourself a favor and never, ever watch the extended Director's Cut.  It will crush too many things that one holds dear about this film, or that were better left to the imagination - and indeed that the viewer was pushed to imagine by the awkward edits of the original US release.

Remember that sense of unforgivable betrayal when you first watched _Highlander II_?  Or the midichlorian scene in _The Phantom Menace_?  Same.

Oh, how I wish I read this or remembered reading it! I accidentally watched the Director’s Cut last week, thinking it was the original theater release. How I wish I hadn’t! I have no love for Harvey Weinstein as a human being, but as an editor, his work on this film transformed Tornatore’s vision from  mediocrity into a classic.

I can’t unsee the extended version, but I wish I could.

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21 hours ago, DIShGo said:

Oh, how I wish I read this or remembered reading it! I accidentally watched the Director’s Cut last week, thinking it was the original theater release. How I wish I hadn’t! I have no love for Harvey Weinstein as a human being, but as an editor, his work on this film transformed Tornatore’s vision from  mediocrity into a classic.

I can’t unsee the extended version, but I wish I could.

Wow. ol_ironstomach was absolutely correct, and unfortunately, once you see the “director’s cut,” you can’t unsee it. You end up understanding why some European critics consider Giuseppe Tornatore “mawkish.” (The other Tornatore film I’ve seen, “Stanno Tutti Bene” [Everybody’s Fine] is worth seeing, but absolutely mawkish.)

“Cinema Paradiso will never again have the same meaning for me, and it has gone from being a Top 10 favorite, to a barely decent film that I wouldn’t see a second time.

As much as it may be fingernails on a blackboard, Weinstein apparently single-handedly turned this into a classic by butchering it.

For some good news, the polar opposite effect occurred with “Madame Sousatzka,” which was merely pleasant when released here in 1988. However, John Schlesinger’s director’s cut adds back so much crucial information that it’s an entirely different film - one of great depth and impact. The director’s cut is a fantastic version, and after watching it, the viewer realizes that the original version made almost no sense (I explain this in detail in the link above).

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