"Out of the fire of love come ashes. Even the greatest love eventually fizzles out"
Giuseppe Tornatore’s much heralded 1988 film Cinema Paradiso begins with a famous
film director in Rome
called Salvatore (Jaques Perrin) receiving news from his estranged mother that
a man called Alfredo has died. The director then remembers back to the mid
1940s when he was a young child in the Sicilian village of Giancaldo.
The young Salvatore (Salvatore Cascio), nicknamed Toto is a highly intelligent
six year old who becomes fascinated with cinema during his frequent visits to
the local picture house Cinema Paradiso. The boy develops a friendship with an
old projectionist called Alfredo (Philippe Noiret) and begs him to teach him
the art of film projection. Alfredo is hesitant at first, deeming it an unfit
job for the sprightly Toto but through charm and persistence the boy finally
becomes an apprentice. A few years later the now adolescent Toto (Marco
Leonardi) is running the Cinema Paradiso and begins messing around with his own
films. One day he spots a beautiful girl at the railway station (Agnese Nano)
and his infatuation and love of film becomes shared with his love for the girl.
The film follows Salvatore/Toto from a young boy, right
through to his middle age and is one of the most loving films I’ve seen in a
long time. This is not only a romantic drama but also a love letter to film
itself.
