Last week we watched a film by Guiseppe Tornatore entitled "Cinema Paradiso". It's about a young boy, Toto (Salvatore), who later grows up into a successful director, and his relationship with Alfredo, the projectionist of Cinema Paradiso, the local cinema. The film began with an old woman making a phone call who we later find out to be Toto's mother. She calls to tell his that Alfredo died. When he learns about Alfredo's death, we now see him lying on his side, and the story begins.

I liked that the story was told in flashback because then, the audience were able to really see how Toto's connection with Alfredo was formed. The flashback also has phases. The first was when Toto was a little kid. He would always bug Alfredo about the film projector, about the film, about censored parts of the film, and about his life as the projectionist. You would then see the transition of Toto's part in Alfredo's life, from Toto being the pesky little kid who always bugs him, to the son he never had. The second phase begins when the original Cinema Paradiso burns down and Alfredo loses his eyesight. This is the part where the bond between the two of them grew stronger. A new Cinema is built and Toto is now the new projectionist while Alfredo is the one who hangs around the projection room. This phase also marked the beginning of Toto's growth from being a little kid to a teenager. In some sense, everyone in town "grew up". It became the start of something new for all of them. For Toto's peers, it's when they have their first look on "mature" movies. For the older audience, it's when the "mature scenes" stopped being censored. The third phase begins when Toto falls in love with a girl named Elena. Unfortunately, they had to break-up. The last is when Toto leaves Giancaldo for good. It was Alfredo’s wish that he never come back. He wants Toto to follow his dreams probably because he knew that a better life was waiting for Toto outside their small town.

After the flash backs, Toto comes back to his home town for Alfredo’s funeral. When he came back, everything’s changed. The Cinema Paradiso was demolished. In the ending (and the climax), Alfredo left Toto something, a film made by all the deleted kissing scenes from the movies in the old Cinema Paradiso.

I think the ending was also the climax because of the compilation of clippings Alfredo left Toto. It meant something. I just can’t figure out what it is.

To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to all the shots, even though I know I have to. At first I really tried, honest! But it’s hard to concentrate on the story when you’re observing the film at the same time so I desisted and just watched the movie…

It’s just that, I was so deep into the story that nothing else seemed to matter. All I know is that for it to have that kind of effect on the audience, then it has to be good. Really good; otherwise, it wouldn’t work.

It’s like when reading a book. When it’s good and you like it, you forget everything else. You don’t really mind the slight typos. You don’t really pay attention to the writer’s style. You only get to do that when you read it for the third time. But when it’s boring or just plain not good, you tend to see all the errors.