Cinema Paradiso

Synopsis: Cinema Paradiso offers a nostalgic look at the movies and the affect it has on a young boy who grows up in and around the title village movie theater in this Italian comedy-drama that is based on the life and times of screenwriter/director Giuseppe Tornatore. The story begins in the present as a Sicilian mother pines for her estranged son, who left many years ago and has since become a prominent Roman movie director who has taken too literally the advice of his mentor. He finally returns to his home village to attend the funeral of the town's former film projectionist and in so doing embarks upon a journey into his boyhood just after WW II when he became the unofficial son of the town projectionist. In the dark confines of the Cinema Paradiso, the boy and the other townsfolk come to escape from the grim realities of post-war Italy. The town censor is also there to insure that while people have a good time, they do not get aroused by movie scenes. He invariably insists that all kissing scenes be edited out. Still the boy Salvatore learns much about life and love. One day, he learns about courage when the projectionist's latest scheme goes terribly awry and the volatile silver nitrate filmstock erupts into a violent fire that blinds the projectionist. Fortunately, brave Salvatore saves his friend's life and then becomes the new projectionist. The years pass and he grows up to fall in love with a beautiful girl who breaks his heart after he is inducted into the military. She is gone by the time he returns and soon afterward he leaves the village again. That was all thirty years ago and now Salvatore has come to say his final good-bye to his life-long friend, who has left him a little gift in a film can. Taking it to the soon-to-be demolished Cinema Paradiso, Salvatore watches it and suddenly finds everything in his life made crystal clear. In 2002, over a decade after the film's original release, Tornatore brought the original 170 minute director's cut to American screens for the first time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Starring:  Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi 

Director:  Giuseppe Tornatore 

Writer:  Giuseppe Tornatore 

Released: 1988 (theater)

Rating:   for some sexuality.

Country:  Italy, France

Language:  English, Italian

AKA: Nuovo cinema Paradiso