A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
Still rapturous after all these years, Cinema Paradiso stands as one of the great films about movie love.
– Ann Hornaday,
Washington Post,
11 Jul 2002
rotten:
The film's final hour, where nearly all the previous unseen material resides, is unconvincing soap opera that Tornatore was right to cut.
– Terry Lawson,
Detroit Free Press,
19 Jul 2002
fresh:
In the director's cut, the film is not only a love song to the movies but it also is more fully an example of the kind of lush, all-enveloping movie experience it rhapsodizes.
– Eric Harrison,
Houston Chronicle,
19 Jul 2002
fresh:
The heightened symmetry of this new/old Cinema Paradiso makes the film a fuller experience, like an old friend haunted by the exigencies of time.
– Tom Keogh,
Seattle Times,
19 Jul 2002
fresh:
Returning to cinemas in spiffily remastered form ... the film retains its wide-eyed charm, pitched halfway between unrestrained romanticism and unknowing kitsch.