**Mild spoiler warning for both versions of Cinema Paradiso**
Was watching the director's cut version of Cinema Paradiso (called the 'New Version') on DVD with my dad a few nights ago. Now already regarded as a classic, I've definitely heard of this 1988 Italian film (made in 1988, released internationally in 1990... I think) for a really long time, but never really had the opportunity to find either the chance, or the mood to watch it even though my dad has the DVD of the original for years.
Dad managed to borrow the Cinema Paradiso: New Version DVD from his friend, which he hadn't seen, so we watched it together. Father and son watching a nice coming-of-age story of a boy and his friendship with a father figure, awesome.
To the uninitiated, film's about a famous film director who returns home to a Sicilian village for the first time after almost 30 years to attend a funeral of Alfredo, an old friend. He reminisces about his childhood at the Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo, the projectionist, first brought about his love of films. He is also reminded of his lost teenage love, Elena, whom he had to leave before he left for Rome.
This film is a MUST-WATCH!
Ahhh... I think it's a beautiful film that reminds me why I love films at the first place. If you actually love films, I think you'll love this even more. There are moments in the film that just feel... magical. And man, the score by Ennio Morricone, I've heard it so many times in awards presentations and the likes (and most recently, in movie The Holiday, the Jack Black character made numerous Morricone references) but I never knew that it's actually from this film!
Released in 2002, the director's cut is actually nearly an hour longer than the original. Director Giuseppe Tornatore gives us more extra stuff than Peter Jackson did with the extended versions of those Lord of the Rings films.
In the original version, Elena remains a lasting memory for Salvatore (Toto), the protagonist, but in the 'New Version', he actually meets up with Elena again, both of them already middle-aged, and she's married to an old friend of his. Turns out that all those years ago, Alfredo reluctantly manipulated Elena into leaving Toto just so Toto can follow his dreams and become a film director*.
I feel that the new revelations from the Elena subplot in the director's cut sort of diminish the Alfredo/ Toto friendship. And the structure in the third act just becomes a bit awkward and weird. Some like this new version more because the film becomes more complex, the relationship between Elena and Toto more tragic and less mysterious, there is an added layer to the film. Alfredo's 'betrayal' makes Alfredo more selfless because he doesn't want Toto to make an impossible choice, yet, a betrayal is still a betrayal! Somehow, when the famous 'kissing montage' ending came, I was really more numb than really affected.
After the film ended, dad, feeling slightly disappointed by this version too, popped the old DVD of the original version into the player just so we can make our comparisons. We fastforwarded to the last act of the film. (you didn't really think that we would have a 5+ hour Cinema Paradiso marathon, did you?)
I think I like the more fable-like, mythical feel of the original. More simple and innocent. Maybe being a romantic at heart, I would rather that Elena remains just a lasting memory. It's mostly because I embrace open-endedness just so I can fill in my own blanks. With her subplot being so open-ended, I'm allowed to believe and imagine that someday, Toto (who remained single all his life, drifting from one loveless relationship to another) would finally find Elena under different, and happier circumstances. Sigh...
The feeling I got from the new version? It's as if GONE WITH THE WIND has an extended ending with Scarlett finding Rhett again only to find out that he's already married to some random woman and has a few kids of his own**. But of course, the idea of GWTW being longer than its original 4 hours is already scary enough.
Still a really good movie, but definitely not as good as the original, to me.
Anyone else with any thoughts?
Gotta add a video of the ending. Powerful stuff.
The famous 'Kissing Montage' ending in Cinema Paradiso
* Er, hits a bit too close to home for me...
** I'm disregarding of the existence of Alexandra Ripley's SCARLETT, the 1991 authorized sequel of GONE WITH THE WIND.
