Cinema Paradiso

I watched Cinema Paradiso last night. I know it came out in 1988, but I'd just never made time to see it. I'm glad I finally did. It was a delightful, sentimental movie. IMDB listed the tagline: 'A celebration of youth, friendship, and the everlasting magic of the movies.' I guess when it was first released it wasn't favorably reviewed by the critics, it was too sentimental. When it was shown at Cannes it got rave reviews for it's sentimentality, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury and was also nominated for the Golden Palm. It went on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 1990.

It begins with the main character learning of passing of a dear old friend, whom he hadn't seen for 30 years. It brings up old memories, the film ends up being mostly flashbacks to Toto's childhood. At first I was a little hung up on it being a movie about people watching movies, but then I let go and got swept up into the story. I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I laughed, I cried, I am glad I finally Cinema Paradiso. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.