Cinema Paradiso is a wonderful and beautifully shot drama that is absolutely superb for any fan of movies and character drama with a touch of romance and lost love.
Cinema Paradiso
(1988)
Genre(s): Drama
Arrow Academy | NR – 124 min. / 174 min. – $39.95 | March 21, 2017
Date Published: 04/07/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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PLOT SYNOPSIS
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| Giuseppe Tornatore’s homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore (JACQUES PERRIN), a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo (PHILIPPE NORET), his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood (as portrayed by SALVATORE CASCIO and MARCO LEONARDI as a child and teenager respectfully). Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena (AGNESE NANO) and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.25/5 |
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This two-disc release comes housed in a clear HD Keep Case and comes with a reversible inner cover. Included is the massive 174-minute director’s cut Audio Commentary – Italian cinema expert critic Millicent Marcus sits down for an academic track and she serves as a translator for director Giuseppe Tornatore. A Dream of Sicily (54:45; HD) is a documentary profile of Tornatore and features interviews with the director and some of his early home movies. A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise (27:26; HD) – This is another documentary on the making of Cinema Paradiso and features interviews with actors Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore. The Kissing Sequence (7:01; HD) – Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes. 25th Anniversary Trailer (1:40; HD) |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Cinema Paradiso (aka Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) arrives on Blu-ray through Arrow’s Academy line and both the Theatrical Version and Director’s Cut presented in the original 1.66 widescreen aspect ratio and given a nice 1080p high-definition transfer. This looks pretty damn good with brilliantly bright colors throughout and excellent and sharp detail. There were some minor damage here and there but nothing overly distracting. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| The disc includes the choice of PCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. While I viewed the movie with the default 2.0 option, I did switch every so often to the other and while it’s okay, I did find the 2.0 to be a tad better as the 5.1 generally spread the audio out across the channels and I hardly noticed the LFE kicking in very much. Still, dialogue levels did sound clean and Ennio Morricone’s score comes through quite nicely. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Overall, Cinema Paradiso is a wonderful and beautifully shot drama that is absolutely superb for any fan of movies and character drama with a touch of romance and lost love. The Blu-ray released through Arrow Academy offers excellent video/audio transfers and a fine selection of bonus material highlighted by “A Dream of Sicily” documentary. |
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.