‘Whatever you end up doing, love it. The way you loved the projection booth when you were a little squirt.’
Cinema Paradiso, an Italian subtitle film, tells the story of Salvatore’s love of film; from being a young child obsessed with the projectionist booth at his local theatre, to becoming himself a successful filmmaker.
At the centre of the film lies Salvatore’s friendship with the projectionist, Alfredo. The bond between these two characters is really the crux of the storyline, through which we explore each man’s connection with film, the community and families. It’s interesting how the development of Salvatore’s passion for film, his relationship with Alfredo and his ‘coming of age’ are all entwined, to the point where it’s impossible to isolate one from the others.
I found it a little bit hard to get into at first (I’m never a huge fan of subtitled films – it’s an added level of concentration that I generally struggle with) but once I got used to it, I enjoyed it. It’s not quite as captivating as I would’ve liked, and there were definite pacing issues, with some sections dragging on and other more emotive sequences feeling a tad rushed. For instance, there’s the dramatic episode with the fire at the cinema where we see Salvatore rescuing Alfredo – and then with hardly any exploration of the immediate consequences of this, we skip a few years to Salvatore’s teenage years.
The main thing that resonated with me through this film was how much everybody involved loved everything to do with film and cinema. It’s been done many times, the sort of homages to the industry, but this felt different. It’s like a long love letter to the original technology, to the atmosphere of a local movie theatre, to the way film brings people together, even just for a little while, and of course, to the importance of that big old on-screen romantic smooch.
In days to come, I’ll probably forget a lot of what actually happens in this movie, but I’ll never forget the way it makes you feel about the power of film.
IMDB position: 58
IMDB rating: 8.4/10
My verdict: 7.2/10
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