Hacker Cinema
Cinema Paradiso
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
1988 · Film · 124 min
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
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.
14 positive1 mixed6 neutralfrom 21 commenters
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22 comments on Hacker News
There's one in the UK too, Cinema Paradiso. The prices are also quite high.
Also, the turnaround times were really slow. Slow mail perhaps, but at the same time it's kind of in their interests to not turn things around so fast.
In the UK, letters get a lower priority than packages which doesn't help.
This sounds a bit like Cinema Paradiso.
The Long Goodbye (R. Altman) Akira (Otomo) Cinema Paradiso (G. Tornatore) In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar Wai) Tron (S. Lisberger) Stop Making Sense (J. Demme)
Sideways
Back To The Future
Cinema Paradiso
Spaceballs
Up In Smoke (Cheech & Chong)
The Incredibles
Indiana Jones 1-3
Indiana Jones: Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (Rifftrax only)
Falling Down
Office Space
Man Bites Dog
Nothing To Lose
Idiocracy
Space Mutiny (MST3k)
Goodfellas
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Groundhog Day
Barbie
Full Metal Jacket
Mallrats
Flight Of The Navigator
The Founder
One Hour Photo
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I'm pretty certain I've rewatched Sideways more than any other film.
There are a few, we use one and my family uses another. Cinema Paradiso is one.
I highly recommend Cinema Paradiso.
My grandma and her friends were projectionists in a small town cinema. It really did have a climate of the early scenes from Cinema Paradiso (although it wasn't that long time ago). I snuck into the balcony gallery for every movie I wanted to see. Though, I distinctly remember I came more for the atmosphere rather than the movies themselves. The cinema building was in a church-adjacent old theatre, over 250 years old. Before or after the film, I'd often hang out in the ticket booth, which was the cosiest place on Earth I know till today. Tiny, wooden enclosure lit with, I believe, sodium lamps. And of course, I had access to all the merchandise, particularly the posters. There were couple of old ones, and I feel like they don't really make them so artsy nowadays, so a bit of that poster magic eloped for me over time.
I also worked for 10 years at a small movie theater in Italy, and very much share what you described. The noises, the lights, the repetitive and almost ritual actions. A very nice illustration the projectionist's life is told in the excellent movie "Cinema Paradiso" [1,2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Paradiso [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOgDcysdjN4
Thank you for sharing your experience, it reminded me of “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”, which is for sure worth a watch if you haven’t seen it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Paradiso
I remember some years ago reading a reply, from a film critic to a newspaper reader, about a letter he had received from her. He had reviewed Cinema Paradiso in glowing terms, and was then surprised to receive a letter that was incandescent with rage.
The cinemagoer was disgusted by what she had seen, and didn't understand how such an epic display of toilet humour, slapstick violence and general crude behaviour had attracted any sort of positive response, let alone the recommendations he had given.
The critic pointed out that it sounded like she had probably been to see "Guest House Paradiso", a very different movie...
In the charming 1988 Best Foreign Film "Cinema Paradiso," set in a small pre-war Italian town, the projectionist has to preview every imported American film for the local priest, who sits and rings a bell at each scene containing a kiss so they can be spliced out before the paying audience arrives. Spoiler: In the heartwarming ending, the young boy who had befriended him comes back to town after the death of the projectionist, to find a gift has been left for him: A reel of film, which he projects for himself, and finds it's all the years of removed Hollywood kisses, spliced together one right after the other.
“Get out of here! Go back to Rome. You're young and the world is yours. I'm old. I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talking about you. Don't come back. Don't think about us. Don't look back. Don't write. Don't give in to nostalgia. Forget us all. If you do and you come back, don't come see me. I won't let you in my house. Understand?“ Cinema Paradiso
Another Morricone score worth mentioning is that for a great film - Cinema Paradiso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQh4PeB8PE
Another of the great melody writers is gone. He will be missed. His Cinema Paradiso theme is one of my all-time favorites -- not the love theme that's most commonly associated with the film, but the main theme, which plays during the opening. It's so infinitely tender and nostalgic.
https://youtu.be/BvD8EiibPVo
He toured with live performances very frequently, only retiring from live music last year, at age of 90. I saw him twice and both were filled with really serious fans of all ages.
While he was prolific (350+ movie scores credits on imdb), I really feel as I am re-experiencing the movie while listening to Morricone's soundtracks, more than from any other composer, especially for "Cinema Paradiso", "Frantic" and, I think, the most meaningful Spaghetti Western, "Duck, You Sucker" (!).
That might very well be the case, but I can certainly see the difference between how a plasma TV displays colors (more movie-like) and the way LED screens do (less movie-like, a lot more difficult to suspend disbelief while watching it).
One of my close friends has one of these 4K TVs and watching "Friends" (the TV show) at his home was quite eerie, it felt like all the characters were part of our room, and not in a good way. Color- and resolution- imperfections make a movie, well, more movie-like, at least for us people who got to see movies displayed on screens not very much unlike what you could see in "Cinema Paradiso" [1]
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095765/
I'm not advocating for any sort of prescriptive definition of art, obviously. There are certainly lots of ways to talk about art, and in many respects the Marvel movies meet the definition.
But just as it would be absurd to be totalitarian about the definition art, it would be absurd to suggest that The Avengers 12 or whatever is identical to, for instance, Cinema Paradiso, and that there isn't something in the latter film that is missing from the former.
From there its not a leap to ask broader questions about what sorts of films dominate popular culture and whether that state of affairs is good or not.
This is a discussion of art, and thus the human condition. We're unlikely to find anything like a concrete conclusion. But its note futile either.
There's no hard line. All of those things, at different times, can be hugely beneficial and take society forward.
Many revolutions involved assault and murder (from the French Revolution to Cromwell).
May 68 was all about "overthrowing elected governments".
In the punk era "breaking into concerts" was routine -- and a way for poorer kids to afford seeing some bands they liked.
(There's a very nice scene in Cinema Paradiso for how kids/teenagers would also break/sneak/into cinemas to watch the film free -- or watch more adult films, a huge part of the old Italian culture, also common in other European countries).
I agree that it most likely is some sort of licensing issue which prevents the same content. But Netflix isn't paying for Cinema Paradiso, or Braveheart, or Zootopia, or … in Sweden. In fact the Swedish library is less than half the size of the US library[1]. Yet Swedish consumers pay just as much as US consumers. There is a large discrepancy in the value given for customers' money here which Netflix does not address.
[1] http://cordcutting.com/how-many-titles-are-available-on-netflix-in-your-country/
And of these 31 remaining almost half are missing in the Swedish Netflix:
5. Back to the Future 6. Gladiator 7. Sunset Boulevard 8. Cinema Paradiso 9. Django Unchained 12. Reservoir Dogs 13. Braveheart 17. Amadeus 21. Trainspotting 24. There Will Be Blood 25. Spotlight 26. The Princess Bride 27. Zootopia 29. Jaws 31. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
And yet Netflix want the same monthly cost for less of a service. Why?
I think that's also an example of a movie that has changed over time.
Probably the worst example being Cinema Paradiso. The original cut had nostalgia with a mixture of regret and acceptance of what is past. Then, the new cut concludes with the disappointment of trying to confront past missed opportunities. Whether it's meant to be hyperrealistic, I also liked the original movie, which was a different movie, but can't be found anymore.
I think the same goes for the earlier releases of Star Wars. I know that the special effects of the era weren't "better", but the modern CGI makes them different movies, and I'd like to have the original version available, too.
a movie he might like Nuovo cinema Paradiso http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095765/