Rating: 
Summary: Charming, Touching, Bittersweet
Review: A fatherless child in post-World War II Sicily falls in love with the movies shown at his tiny town's Cinema Paradiso, where he pesters an irrascible projectionist into teaching him the trade. Although their relationship is initially based on a love for the audience as a community, they also develop a profound friendship that has powerful and far-reaching effects in both their lives.There are several cuts of this film, and there seems to be an on-going controversy re which is best, with those who have seen the original Italian cut and the director's cut proclaiming they are greatly superior to the American version. If that is true, they must be very fine indeed, for as it stands the more widely available American version is a brilliant film--charming, touching, and bittersweet. Some have described this as a movie for those who love movies, but I find that only partly true; it is more a film about both community and how the people of our past make us the individuals we have become. The direction is smooth, the cinematography memorable, and the cast--particularly Philippe Noiret as the projectionist Alfredo and Salvatore Cascio as the child determined to befriend him--is very fine. An elegant, loving film; recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-See in Any Language
Review: To start with, the story more than chronicles the various rites
of passage a boy goes through en route to adulthood. The image
of the camera as an omnicient eye is heavily symbolic - it is
the father who died too early for the child to remember, but it
is also the child's guardian angel, the one who eventually moulds
his character, his decisions, and his future. There are many
different ways of making a film, and many different kinds of
cameras, and the boy learns all about the film industry, not
realizing that his own life is comparable to a film. He develops
and refines his own way of looking at the world and interpreting
the things in it, at the same time playing a participant's role
in that same world. We actually learn more about him by looking
through the other end of the lens, so to speak. At one point in
the film, he does that himself by reviewing old material and
revisiting old shooting locations. He experiences it as an odd
yet familiar journey into the known, yet unknown, world he left
behind. I would recommend this film not just for film-devotees in
general, but also for those who are not embarrassed when faced
with the opportunity to reminisce about the past, who do not
mind surrendering to a graceful mood of nostalgia, and who do
not flinch from reviewing their past with the objectivity of an
all-seeing, all-revealing camera
Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie of all!
Review: This film is a timeless tale of a beautiful friendship, but it is never corny or trite. It perfectly captures small town life in rural Sicily, but it could be set anywhere. I have seen it about 300 times(I've lost count), having shown it to students and even to my fiancé. The guys like it so much they seem not to mind the subtitles! I will never tire of this movie. It is one that everyone should see.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: Cinema Paradiso is a very beautiful film. It's all about how the town's projectionist teaches a little boy a love and appreciation for all kinds of films. The boy grows up to take over as the projectionist and then becomes a film maker himself. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's an absolutely beautiful film. If you absolutely hate sappy stories about love and friendship, don't waste your time with this film. Besides, it has subtitles.
Rating:
Summary: A celebration of the magic of cinema
Review: Of all the Italian movies that have been released in recent times, this ranks as one of the best, and is certainly superior to Il Postino. The 2 films are similar, with the protagonist being a young boy/man with artistic leanings who learns from an older mentor. In this case, the story is the celebration of a boy's love for cinema in an isolated Sicilian town. Sounds simple, and it is,but OH WHAT A MOVIE!!! If you are a lover of Italy or cinema or both, don't miss this! Also a great score by Ennio Morricone (The Mission, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
Rating:
Summary: A touching life story
Review: This is about love, family, friendship...loss and adversity...sadness and humor. It is a story filled with truths of real life and is acted beautifully. It takes you into the hearts and souls of very real people. Everyone will see something of themselves in this story. If you have ever cared deeply for another person, you'll love this film. If you've ever been to Italy and want to recapture the feeling of small town life there, you'll love this film. Get the sub-titled version to get the true feeling - it comes through despite the language barrier.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: With the every human emotion breathtakingly portraied, with the picturesque Sicilian setting, with the world's most beautiful langauage, with its simple yet powerful storyline, with Ennio Morricone's masterful soundtrack, Cinema Paradiso is my favorite movie of all time.
Rating:
Summary: This is a great movie!
Review: I wonder where I can find the newly released director's cut? I will appreciate if anyone would give me the information.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtless cutting
Review: There exists (I have seen it on Italian TV) a long, original version of this great film. In it our hero seeks out and finds his lost love. It is quite compelling. I can only assume that the director was put under pressure to cut this down. The pity is that there is ten minutes spent on the sequence of sharing one print between two cinemas; time which would have been better spent on preserving the original outcome of the love story. And the distributors would have been happy too, the length being the same. Who knows, maybe the director was content with the released version. This film still remains a great classic, however, and contains one the best scores ever written. Anyone have a copy of that long version?
Rating:
Summary: What this film is NOT...
Review: ..this is not a blockbuster film, not an action film, not really quite a coming of age film. What this IS, is a labor of love, a true work of art, and proof that the film genre can be poignant, entertaining AND thought provoking. It's success stems from the characters...real people in real life situations, with no heroics and no eye-popping cutting edge special effects. It touches us because it has no happy ending, no ending at all actually, the lead character Toto, although very successful in life remains unfulfilled. He has guilt over unfilled family relationships, a father who died in the war, a teenage love that was lost, and doubts over his own accomplishments. The only thing that does give him satisfaction (which he only realizes at the end of the film) is the friendship and love he had for the old man who befriended and mentored him as a child. The old man is the projectionist at the Cinema Paradiso, Alfredo, wonderfully portrayed by the great Philippe Noiret. This will surely be one of the most beloved films of all time whether foreign or domestic due to the beautiful cinematography, the beautiful score, the wonderful acting, and the great care and love given by the director.
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