The fact that there are two versions frustrates me. Not because we're "blessed" now with more to understand about the story, but because there is a decision to make when choosing a version, and this level of art should simply be created once and left alone. The original version is what I fell in love with, and the version that won the academy award, and I feel that is a better story because we don't hold so much resentment towards Alfredo's betrayal sending Toto off to find his dreams of the movie business far away from their village and away from the love of his life. I won't go into great detail to spoil it for anyone that has not yet seen the movie, but I will say this. Either version is a masterpiece, and it's only my opinion that the original is actually the better cut. If I were to do the editing, I would have included about 10 minutes of the added one hour, and thats about it.
Like a good meal, like a good kiss, you should be left wanting more. The original does that. We're left with the desire Toto has. We're left with the understanding of what exactly he sacrificed, and left us wondering, like him, if it was all worth it. After all, no other woman in his life ever really meant anything to him after Elena. Toto's dream to be reunited with his love is still present in the original, and although the new cut answers a lot of unanswered questions, that is not always the best thing for a story.
I gave this version all the stars I can because when you break it down, although I've been clear that I prefer the orignal, any way you cut this film, it is a reel of masterful art. I'm a grown man, yet Ennio Morricone can tug at my heart strings like no other composer, and of all the amazing pieces of music this man has created, I believe this is his most beautiful and most profound work. I don't know how better a marriage of story, actors, director, composer and cinematography can ever come together more perfectly, but in the world of movie making, this movie is simply how it's done.
If you do get the chance to get a DVD with both original and extended versions, I suggest you see the original first.
Since first seeing this film, it has been in my top three or four favorite films of all time. Foreign or not. I love movies, so that says a lot.
Great movie - Woodrow Lowe -
This movie was recommend by a friend and it is one of the very best movies I have ever watched. I laughed, I cried and thought about it many times since I watched it. Don't rent it you will want to own this classic.
Perfect - serichou -
The extended version of this film makes it that much better! The subtitles are perfect, and I have no complaints about the DVD.
Cinema Paradiso - original theatrical release - James Shreckengost - Decatur, GA United States
I saw this movie when it first hit the screen in the USA...and couldn't wait until it came out on DVD. It is one of my favorite movies of all time, and there's much to love about it. The irrepressible Toto is a little pest, but he befriends the older Alfredo, projectionist at the lone cinema in their Sicilian village, shattered by war and poverty. Toto observes Alfredo and learns the workings of the projector, loaded with flammable film stock. A terrible accident leaves Toto in charge, and the movie fast forwards into Toto's teen years. He falls in love with the beautiful Elena, who is seemingly unattainable. Her family is wealthy, and Toto's is not. The young lovers part, never to meet again. Some other reviewers have missed the point of this movie. It is about unrequited love, and the bittersweet memories that Toto relives when learning of Alfredo's death, as the film opens. The final scene, wherein Alfredo's gift to Toto makes the point that love is the thing that makes life worth living... is incredibly powerful. Without a word, in about 2.5 minutes, the director creates a scene that is already a film classic.
PLOT SPOILER AHEAD
Regarding the so-called "director's cut" that was issued some years after the cinema release. I saw it. It's on the flip side of my DVD. I hated it so much that I almost gouged that side of the DVD to keep it from ever being played again. Better to have the film end as it did originally. To have Toto/Salvatore and Elena reunite later in life is one thing...but to have them getting it on in the back seat of a car was totally unbelievable and incongruous. A successful and wealthy director would take the love of his life to the nicest hotel in Rome for a rendezvous, he would hardly consummate their relationship like two frumpy middle-aged former lovers would. Heck, most middle aged people would get a room. This scene rang falsely and ruined this version of the film.
STICK WITH THE ORIGINAL THEATRICAL RELEASE! GET IT, OWN IT AND LOVE IT... FORGET THE DIRECTOR'S CUT!
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment