Review: Cinema Paradiso (UHD Blu-ray)
Blu-ray & UHD 4K Blu-ray: Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Salvatore ‘Totò’ Di Vita (played by 3 actors during various stages of the characters life) is a young boy with a big passion…movies.
He is consumed by the whole experience of the moving image and lives for visiting the local village movie house; the titular Cinema Paradiso, where he befriends the resident projectionist Alfredo (Philippe Noiret).
When an accident leaves Alfredo unable to continue his duties, Toto steps into the projection room and keeps the reels rolling.
However, all dreams must come to an end, and despite his love of movies keeping him at the cinema through to the end of his teenage years, life and love moves him away from the village. Though the love of cinema, and especially his friendship with Alfredo, is never far from his mind, and a turn of events brings him back to where it all began.
Cinema Paradiso is not only a wonderful love letter to the magic of the moving image and all of the emotions that it can evoke, it is in itself a piece of magical cinema, spotlighting that moment in time, when, sat in the dark with a huge screen in front of you, the images and sounds wash over you and transport you to places you never thought possible, but now always want to return and see what magic awaits (for me it was my Dad taking me to the cinema in early 1976 (I was 10) to watch Jaws and I’ve been a cinephile ever since).
The UHD 4K Blu-ray brings everything to life, with the dark cinema scenes showing details that I’ve missed on previous viewings, while in the daytime the village comes to life with vibrant colours and a warm summer atmosphere where you can almost feel the sun on your skin, all keeping the film grain that is such a part of the cinema experience.
Cinema Paradiso will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will reaffirm your love of cinema, and it will also make you appreciate the love of those close to you…especially relevant in this troubled year of 2020.
If you’ve watched Cinema Paradiso before then this UHD 4K blu-ray release from Arrow Films makes it almost like a 1st time watch again, and if you’ve never seen it…then you’re in for one hell of a treat.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- New 4K restoration of the theatrical version from the original camera negative, supervised by Giuseppe Tornatore and 2K restoration of the Director’s Cut version
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the 124 minute theatrical version
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the 174 minute Director’s Cut
- Uncompressed original stereo 2.0 Audio and 5.1 surround sound options
- Optional English subtitles
- Audio commentary with director Giuseppe Tornatore and Italian cinema expert critic Millicent Marcus
- A Dream of Sicily – A 52-minute documentary profile of Giuseppe Tornatore featuring interviews with the director and extracts from his early home movies as well as interviews with director Francesco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by the legendary Ennio Morricone
- A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise – A 27-minute documentary on the making of Cinema Paradiso and the characters of Toto and Alfredo, featuring interviews the actors who play them, Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore
- The Kissing Sequence – Giuseppe Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes with clips identifying each scene
- Original Director’s Cut Theatrical Trailer and 25th Anniversary Re-Release Trailer
Cinema Paradiso is released 7th December 2020.
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.
