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- 1990
- PG
- Miramax Films
- 2 h 35 m
- 1990
- PG
- Miramax Films
- 2 h 35 m
SummarySet in an Italian village, Salvatore finds himself enchanted by the flickering images at the Cinema Paradiso, yearning for the secret of the cinema’s magic. When the projectionist, Alfredo, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking, a deep friendship is born. The day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream of ma...
Directed By: Giuseppe Tornatore
Written By: Giuseppe Tornatore, Vanna Paoli
- 1990
- PG
- Miramax Films
- 2 h 35 m
- 1990
- PG
- Miramax Films
- 2 h 35 m
Cinema Paradiso
80
8.9
My Score
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SummarySet in an Italian village, Salvatore finds himself enchanted by the flickering images at the Cinema Paradiso, yearning for the secret of the cinema’s magic. When the projectionist, Alfredo, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking, a deep friendship is born. The day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream of ma...
Directed By: Giuseppe Tornatore
Written By: Giuseppe Tornatore, Vanna Paoli
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 21 Critic Reviews
80
86% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
14% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
Metascore
Generally FavorableBased on 21 Critic Reviews
80
86% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
14% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
A 25th anniversary restoration of Giuseppe Tornatore’s ode to moving pictures and puppy love.
By Jessica MellorFULL REVIEW
It's a shining valentine to the movies--full of homages, collages and swooningly romantic Ennio Morricone music--and it gets right at the messy, impure, wondrous way they capture and enrapture us. [16 February 1990, Calendar, p.F-1]
User Score
Universal AcclaimBased on 194 User Ratings
8.9
93% Positive
180 Ratings
180 Ratings
6% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
2% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
User Score
Universal AcclaimBased on 194 User Ratings
8.9
93% Positive
180 Ratings
180 Ratings
6% Mixed
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
2% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
- All Reviews
- Positive Reviews
- Mixed Reviews
- Negative Reviews
As a big lover of film, I am still kicking myself for not seeing this masterpiece any sooner. To me, Cinema Paadiso is one of the best films of the 80s and also the most moving, particularly in the final hour.I have seen many visually stunning films, and Cinema Paradiso is up there as one of the most visually ravishing films I've seen. The cinematography and editing are outstanding, and the scenery still looks gorgeous with an epic feel to it. Cinema Paradiso, alongside The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, also contains one of Ennio Morricone's most haunting scores and it is also one of my favourites of his.Cinema Paradiso is immaculately directed, has an touching, beautifully-written and honest script and a rich, compelling story that while it has an elegiac feel moves swiftly by draws you right in until the ending, which breaks my heart still after 5 times of seeing it.The characters are very well defined, particularly Alfredo, and the acting is outstanding with Salvatore Cascio, Enzo Cannavale, Marco Leonardi and especially Phillippe Noiret particularly impressive. All in all, a masterpiece. 10/10 Bethany Cox
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Remain open to fantasies but not be consumed by them. These are good lessons for a would-be director. They are good lessons for everybody. And no recent movie has taught them with more patient sweetness. [Feb. 5, 1990]
A major contributor to the reverential narrative of wistful cinema, Giuseppe Tornatore’s magnum opus Cinema Paradiso is an elegant distillation of the form’s escapist qualities and the garland of an industry that understands global audiences’ enduring appetite for wild nostalgia.
Just about everything you ever loved (or hated) about Italian films can be found.
A sweet, funny exercise in nostalgia, though it's also self-congratulatory and awfully calculating.
Originally a two-part film running about three hours, this treacle has been reduced by almost a third, though it still seems to run on forever -- a bit like life but much less interesting.
if you people just know,if you people just could have seen what sicily is,this film reminds me of my birthplace,and it does so good that it makes me wanna take a flight and get back there,i rate it in my top 5 best films ever,if i could give an 11 i would have give it,in one word masterpiece
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When a young boy loses his father to WWII, a lonely Sicilian projectionist grudgingly accepts the film-obsessed kid as his assistant. Childless, the older man relates to his new protégée like a son before a nitrate explosion leaves him blind and thrusts the boy into a full-time position behind the curtain. The resulting fire also destroys the town’s little theater, but a local lottery winner recognizes its importance to the community and rebuilds, taking the opportunity to cut out the censor-happy cleric who’s been trimming romantic content for religious reasons.This entire story is wrapped in a golden air of fond remembrance, which should come as little surprise since it’s basically the love-letter autobiography of writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore. He even filmed Cinema Paradiso in the same village that inspired it. That makes for a very intimate, revealing narrative, but also a highly idealized one. Its plot doesn’t lack drama or heartache, but Tornatore chooses not to chase those trickier conflicts. He prefers the scent of rose-tinted nostalgia. The result is a very warm, sentimental experience, but also a rather loose, passive one. It’s almost like a confessional, a sort of “here’s why I am the way that I am” that concedes his limitations as a man while also asserting their importance to his development as an auteur. The closing montage makes for a beautiful, memorable farewell, but it was blatantly telegraphed more than a hundred minutes prior.
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Production Company
- Cristaldifilm
- Les Films Ariane
- Rai 3
- TF1 Films Production
- Forum Picture
Release DateMar 1, 1990
Duration2 h 35 m
RatingPG
TaglineA celebration of youth, friendship, and the everlasting magic of the movies.