Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) is an Italian drama film released in 1988, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, this drama is a sentimental portrait of post-war Italy and a declaration of love for cinema.

The original feature film was 155 minutes long, but due to its low success in Italy, it was reduced to 123 minutes for its world premiere, which helped improve its box office, making it an international success. It stars Jacques Perrin, Philippe Noiret, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio. The music and original soundtrack of the film is by Ennio Morricone and his son Andrea Morricone, who composed the love theme.

Plot

In Rome in the 1980s, famed Italian director Salvatore Di Vita comes home late one night, where his girlfriend sleepily tells him that her mother called to say someone named Alfredo has died. Salvatore is afraid to commit to a relationship and hasn't been to his hometown of Giancaldo, Sicily, in 30 years. While his girlfriend asks who Alfredo is, Salvatore returns to his childhood.

Some years after World War II, six-year-old Salvatore is the mischievous and clever son of a war widow. Nicknamed Totó, he discovers his love for movies and spends every free moment at the local Cinema Paradiso. Although they initially start out on tense terms, he develops a friendship with the projectionist, Alfredo, who becomes a father figure to him and often allows him to watch movies from the projection booth. During shows, the audience boos when parts of the movies are missing, those romantic scenes where the characters kiss, because the local priest had ordered these sections to be censored, and the cut scenes are piled up on the theater floor. projection. At first, Alfredo considers Totó a pest, but he eventually teaches Salvatore how to operate the projector.

While he was learning to direct the projector, Totó found out at the cinema that his father had died in Russia after being sent to the war and having been reported missing along with other Italian soldiers. He, along with his mother, go to collect the pension, crossing an area devastated by enemy attacks during the war.

The montage ends when the cinema catches fire while Alfredo was projecting Viggiù's firefighters after hours, on the wall of a nearby house, so that people with fewer resources would not miss out on seeing it the movie. Salvatore saves Alfredo's life by dragging him out of the booth, but not before a film reel explodes in Alfredo's face, leaving him permanently blind. Later the Cinema Paradiso is rebuilt by a citizen, Ciccio, who invests his winnings from the pools in it. Salvatore, still a boy, is hired as the new projectionist, since he is the only person who knows how to operate the machines.

During the inauguration of the new Cinema Paradiso, the scene of a romantic kiss was projected for the first time, causing all the spectators to rise from their seats and applaud, except for Father Adelfio who said terrified " I don't watch pornographic movies". Since then, no film shown in the cinema has been censored.

About a decade later, Salvatore, now in high school, is still operating the projector at the "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso". His relationship with the blind Alfredo has grown stronger, and Salvatore often seeks his help and advice, which Alfredo often dispenses by quoting classic movies. Salvatore has been experimenting with film, and using a home theater camera he films and meets Elena, the daughter of a wealthy banker. Salvatore pursues and wins Elena's heart, only to lose her due to her father's disapproval.

While Elena and her family move, Salvatore leaves town for mandatory military service. His attempts to write to Elena are unsuccessful; his letters are returned as undelivered. Returning from the army, Alfredo urges Salvatore to leave Giancaldo permanently, telling him that the city is too small for Salvatore to fulfill his dreams. On the other hand, the old man tells him that once he leaves he must pursue his destiny with all his heart, without looking back and never coming back, not even to visit him; and that he should never give in to nostalgia or even write or think about them. They tearfully embrace, and Salvatore leaves town to pursue his future as a filmmaker.

In the present, Salvatore has obeyed Alfredo, but returns home to attend the funeral. Although the city has changed a lot, he now understands why Alfredo thought it was important for him to leave. Alfredo's widow tells him that the old man followed Salvatore's successes with pride, and left him something: an unlabeled film reel and the old stool that Salvatore used to operate the projector. Salvatore learns that Cinema Paradiso is going to be demolished to make way for a parking lot. At the funeral, he recognizes the faces of many people who attended the theater when he was the projectionist.

Salvatore returns to Rome. He looks at Alfredo's reel and discovers that it comprises a very special montage. It contains all the romantic scenes that the priest had ordered to be cut from the movies, those reels that he had promised her that he would give her when he was a child; Alfredo had spliced the sequences together to form a single movie. Salvatore finally makes peace with his past with tears in his eyes.

Cast

• Salvatore Cascio as Salvatore Di Vita, "Totó", during childhood, a naughty and intelligent son of a war widow.
• Marco Leonardi as Salvatore Di Vita during the teen season, operator of the Cinema Paradiso projector.
• Jacques Perrin as Salvatore Di Vita during the time of adult, famous Italian film director.
• Philippe Noiret like Alfredo, a projectist of the Cinema Paradiso.
• Antonella Attili as Maria Di Vita, mother of the little "Totó" during the time of child.
• Pupella Maggio as Maria Di Vita during the age of old age.
• Agnese Nano like Elena Mendola during the teen season, daughter of a rich banker.
• Brigitte Fossey as Elena Mendola during adulthood.
• Enzo Cannavale as Ciccio Spaccafico, who rebuilds in Cinema Paradiso after winning the quiniela.
• Nicola Di Pinto as the madman of the town.
• Isa Danieli like Anna.
• Leopoldo Trieste as Father Adelphio.
• As much Cimarosa as Herrero.
• Roberta Lena like Lia.
• Nino Terzo as Peppino's father.

Production

Shooting

Filming for the film began on December 5, 1987 and ended on September 11, 1988.

Launch

The film was officially released on November 17, 1988 in Italy, on September 20, 1989 in France, on December 18, 1989 in Spain, on February 8, 1990 in Argentina and on February 23, 1990 in the United States.

Awards and nominations

Comments

• In 2002 a DVD version was released with the assembly of the director, which lasts 173 minutes.
• The locations of the film were located in Sicily: Bagheria, Castelbuono, Cefalú, Chiusa Sclafani, Palazzo Adriano (where the square where the Cinema Paraíso is located), Santa Flavia and San Nicola L'Arena, of Termini Imerese.
• Cinema Paradiso is accredited by many as a true classic, remembered for its final scenes, as well as being catalogued as a rebirth for the Italian cinema of the time.
• Music is part of the soundtracks of the world's most acclaimed European cinema. The "love topic" was composed by Andrea Morricone while still studying at the Conservatory, being his first film composition.
• There is a cinema in Argentina, in the city of La Plata, located on 46th Street between 10 and 11, called Cinema Paradiso in honor of the film.
• In September 2014, coinciding with its vigesimoquinto anniversary, the film re-started in fully remastered cinemas.