Conference bookie::movies

241.0. "Cinema Paradiso" by DSSDEV::RUST () Tue Jul 06 1993 18:24

    Wasn't sure what to expect from this one; "delightful" and
    "heart-warming" are adjectives that warn me off as often as they
    attract me. This little film [not all that little, actually; it seemed
    pretty long] is about a small boy's love of the cinema, starting from
    his forays into the projection booth to chat with the grumpy but
    affectionate Alfredo (and to steal the bits of film that the village
    priest has ordered cut) to his eventual career as a director. 
    
    The whole thing's a sort of "you can't go home again" plus vignettes of
    life in the village, with a "history of the movies" tied in. I enjoyed
    the history-of parts best; the attitudes of the people towards this new
    form of entertainment, and its importance to the village during the
    time when war, inflation, and poverty made the rest of life look pretty
    grim. The rest I found a bit too predictable to really enjoy, I'm
    afraid; the events of the little boy's life, his youthful romance, the
    comparisons along the line of "real life" vs. the movies... None of it
    really grabbed me.
    
    Kind of sweet, I guess.
    
    -b