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"Cinema Paradiso"

rico,

Warning: Important scenes and ending revealed !

"Cinema Paradiso" is a film I regret having forgotten to list for the "magical movies" thread below. I'm a big fan of movies that concern movies and movie people, "Day for Night", "The Player", "The Stunt Man", "Sunset Blvd.", and so on.

This movie is quite amazing in the exquisite juxtaposition of the boy Toto and growing up with his relationship to the projectionist- who ironically is blinded in a fire of the old nitro-cellulose film.

We see Toto growing up with one foot in the movie fantasy world, but there is always the return to reality. The scene in which the now famous, but jaded, divorced, depressed grownup movie director Toto watches the strung together kissing scenes that the projectionist collected over decades, expurgated by the local priest as indecent, is one of the most moving ever in a movie and especially affecting in this love note to movies.

The whole think works on one level as an allegory of life, the cinema is a social hub, realm of fantasy, and reality shock- it becoes a porno house and burns down- all in one.

It's interesting to compare "CP" to "The Legend of 1900", another film by the same director, Giuseppe Tornatore, that has many of the same qualities- it also examines the microcosm of life and the way a person captivated by an art makes decisions, but this time aboard a ship rather the encapsulated world of a town cinema.

I haven't seen the extended version, but I'll wager that more is more with this one.

I also regret not having seen "Cinema Paradiso" since it was new- 15 years or more? - thanks rico for the reminder to have a "re-charge".

Cheers,

Bambi B


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