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Cinema Paradiso is a life-affirming ode to the power of youth, nostalgia, and the the movies themselves.
All Critics (72) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (7) | DVD (6)
Cinema Paradiso is much loved, though I have occasionally been the man in the Bateman cartoon: the reviewer who confessed to finding Cinema Paradiso a bit sugary and the kid really annoying. Dec 12, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Cinema Paradiso is much loved, though I have occasionally been the man in the Bateman cartoon: the reviewer who confessed to finding Cinema Paradiso a bit sugary and the kid really annoying.
Peter Bradshaw
A bald-faced act of unalloyed, weapons grade sentimentalism in which humanity is drained of anything with even a passing resemblance to a soul. Dec 12, 2013 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
A bald-faced act of unalloyed, weapons grade sentimentalism in which humanity is drained of anything with even a passing resemblance to a soul.
David Jenkins
Returning to cinemas in spiffily remastered form ... the film retains its wide-eyed charm, pitched halfway between unrestrained romanticism and unknowing kitsch. Dec 9, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Returning to cinemas in spiffily remastered form ... the film retains its wide-eyed charm, pitched halfway between unrestrained romanticism and unknowing kitsch.
Guy Lodge
The heightened symmetry of this new/old Cinema Paradiso makes the film a fuller experience, like an old friend haunted by the exigencies of time. Jul 19, 2002 | Rating: 4/4
The heightened symmetry of this new/old Cinema Paradiso makes the film a fuller experience, like an old friend haunted by the exigencies of time.
Tom Keogh
In the director's cut, the film is not only a love song to the movies but it also is more fully an example of the kind of lush, all-enveloping movie experience it rhapsodizes. Jul 19, 2002 | Rating: A
In the director's cut, the film is not only a love song to the movies but it also is more fully an example of the kind of lush, all-enveloping movie experience it rhapsodizes.
Eric Harrison
The film's final hour, where nearly all the previous unseen material resides, is unconvincing soap opera that Tornatore was right to cut. Jul 19, 2002 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
The film's final hour, where nearly all the previous unseen material resides, is unconvincing soap opera that Tornatore was right to cut.
Terry Lawson
Giuseppe Tornatore's film is a charming and gently humorous work of semi-autobiography, composed with an attentive painter's eye and a cinematic cross- referencing of images and motifs. Apr 9, 2019 | Full Review…
Giuseppe Tornatore's film is a charming and gently humorous work of semi-autobiography, composed with an attentive painter's eye and a cinematic cross- referencing of images and motifs.
Hilary Mantel
[Salvatore Cascio's] adorabilty-quotient can be a bit hard to take, but this is one of the better pieces of screen moppetry in recent years. Dec 6, 2018 | Full Review…
[Salvatore Cascio's] adorabilty-quotient can be a bit hard to take, but this is one of the better pieces of screen moppetry in recent years.
Adam Mars-Jones
This is one of the finest films about innocence ever made, a perfect picture of a time when the cinema was the only source of laughter and joy. Feb 22, 2018 | Rating: 5/5 | Full Review…
This is one of the finest films about innocence ever made, a perfect picture of a time when the cinema was the only source of laughter and joy.
Camilla Long
A cinema-lover's delight. Sep 6, 2017 | Full Review…
A cinema-lover's delight.
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
That balance of the ideal and the tragic weaves all throughout Cinema Paradiso, which is epic in terms of the time frame it covers, but feels consistently intimate Apr 1, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…
That balance of the ideal and the tragic weaves all throughout Cinema Paradiso, which is epic in terms of the time frame it covers, but feels consistently intimate
James Kendrick
Recent changes to cinema which have seen the projectionist's art sidelined in the digital age add a further layer of poignancy to the magical memories. Dec 16, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Recent changes to cinema which have seen the projectionist's art sidelined in the digital age add a further layer of poignancy to the magical memories.
Mark Kermode
The theatrical version is definitely great, a wonderful homage to Cinema, but the extended director's cut is a new and altogether different experience that gives a lot more space to the love story, resulting then in a much richer and complete narrative.
Super Reviewer
(For the original, shorter cut)
A filmmaker's film made with love and appreciation for the art, Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful piece of cinema that's unforgettable!
After viewing the director's cut of Cinema Paradiso, I can understand why Giuseppe Tornatore decided to cut most of the third act -- some scenes are extremely schmaltzy and maudlin, treading dangerously close to soap opera-bad. There are other aspects I could harp on (its overly ambitious attempt to shoehorn political themes, its flowery dialogue, etc.) but sometimes a film has so much spirit and is so heartfelt that you just have to let yourself get wrapped up in it. Plus, I'm a sucker for any love letter to the cinema. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fantastic ending kissing montage. It was perfectly executed, well acted and really solidified the heart and soul of the story (the relationship between Salvatore and Alfredo). If only the rest of the film would have been as fully realized, then we'd be talking about a masterpiece.
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