On Sept. 29, 1988, writer and director Giuseppe Tornatore’s original 173-minute cut of “Cinema Paradiso” debuted at the Europa Cinema Festival in Bari, Italy. Those present at the time had no idea they would be among the very few to see this version of the movie until it was released some 14 years later on home video.
Initially, a shortened, 155-minute cut was released to most of the world in 1989, and all but flopped at the box office.
Eventually pared down to 124 minutes by Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein for U.S. exhibition, it picked up steam and this version went on to garner a slew of critical and industry accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990. It was the first (of five) Best Picture Oscar winners for Miramax.
Unresolved Issue
When I first saw the movie, I liked it quite a bit but felt that it left a major unresolved sub-plot thread dangling, which didn’t seem to bother many other viewers or critics. Having only seen the original cut on Blu-ray this past December, I can say without trepidation or hesitation that it is absolutely the best version of the film.Set primarily in Giancaldo, Sicily in the 1940s, the film opens four decades later with the Rome-based Salvatore (Jacques Perrin) being informed that an old friend of his has just passed away and the funeral would be taking place the next day.
For multiple reasons explained later, Salvatore hasn’t had contact with anyone in Giancaldo for over 30 years, and the thought of returning home keeps him up all night.
With the preamble out of the way, Tornatore starts the narrative in earnest with the very young Salvatore (Salvatore Cascio) playing an easily bored altar boy who lives and breathes movies. With pluck, verve, and audacity to spare, Salvatore (nicknamed “Toto”) doggedly attempts to get on the favorable side of Alfredo (Philippe Noiret), the projectionist at the town’s sole movie theater: the Cinema Paradiso.
Love Walks In
After a harrowing event takes place, the now teenage Salvatore (Marco Leonardi), with the full cooperation and assistance of Alfredo, becomes the new Paradiso projectionist. Arriving with Salvatore’s adolescence is his interest in girls, particularly the fair-haired, blue-eyed, new arrival Elena (Agnese Nano), the daughter of a no-nonsense businessman. In a much different context, Elena plays as hard to get as Alfredo did years earlier.
From this point forward, Tornatore employs a great deal of narrative shorthand, condensing full years down to mere minutes without altering the flow or force-fitting any details. When the adult Salvatore returns in the middle of the third act, there are important details yet unrevealed but—and here’s the rub—only in the 173-minute cut are they present.
The glaring, sole-negative facet of the film, in all of its incarnations, is the original score composed in part by Ennio Morricone. The writer of multiple classic scores, including “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” “The Untouchables,” and “Bugsy,” Morricone won his sole Oscar for his final effort, Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.”
Contradictory MPAA Ratings
The MPAA rating for the 124-minute version is “PG” while the director’s cut received an “R,” which makes no sense whatsoever, as both incarnations include the same two, less-than-three-second archival images of topless women.Four years prior to the release of this film, the (also) Italian-produced “Once Upon a Time in America” went through this same sort of slapdash editing. The final movie from director Sergio Leone, was also scored by Ennio Morricone.
When it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1984, the running time was 251 minutes and was universally praised. A week later, a 139-minute cut was released in the United States and was widely and deservedly panned. It wasn’t until 2014 that the original version became available in the United States.
Not every viewer is lacking the attention span to watch movies lasting three or four hours, but they are certainly a dying breed.
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