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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2001)
‘Cinema Paradiso’ revels in joy and power of movies ■The friendship between a boy and an old man grows through a shared love of film FORGOTTEN FILM ‘Cinema Paradiso’ Starring: Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale ★★★★☆ By Mason West and Rebecca Wilson Oregon Daily Emerald The world of foreign cinema is shamefully overlooked by Ameri can movie-goers. The only hope foreign movies have of gaining widespread American attention is by receiving an Oscar nomination. Then, when we rent movies, we can see those honors on the cover and it will entice us to rent it. That’s pretty much what we did, and it worked out just peachy. “Cinema Paradiso” won the Os car for best foreign film in 1989 against such competitors as “What Happened to Santiago” and “Jesus of Montreal.” The film is from Italy and is thus performed in Italian, surprisingly enough. But the subti tles are yellow — the best subtitle color — so you don’t have to worry about not being able to read them. The movie is about the impact of one cinema on a small post-World War II Sicilian town. The town’s only source of community enter tainment is the ramshackle Cinema Paradiso. The movies, mostly American, break up the monotony of the depressed villagers’ lives. However, there isn’t too much to stir them up because the town priest has all the steamy scenes re moved before public viewing. Mason — It’s like biting into a Twinkie and not finding any cream, filling. Rebecca — Or like when your parents said they were taking you to Disneyland, but they took you to Nebraska instead. Salvatore, or ‘Toto,’ is a mischie vous urchin, as well as the village altar boy, and he secretly watches the forbidden scenes. This creates hell for Alfredo, the theater’s pro jectionist. Alfredo is played to per fection by Philippe Noiret, who is best known to American audiences for his portrayal of Pablo Neruda in “II Postino.” Despite Toto’s hyperactive per sonality, he and Alfredo eventually strike up a deep and lasting friend ship as Alfredo teaches him the craft of movie projecting. The film is set in the 1940s, and it is impor tant to understand that back then projectionists needed to constantly attend the film because it was in se vere danger of catching fire. As luck would have it, one night the film does go up in flames, along with the theater and Alfredo’s eyesight. The theater is rebuilt and Toto, being the only person with the nec essary skills, manages the projector throughout his childhood and ado lescence. In this new era of the Cin ema Paradiso, the kissing scenes stay in the movies, and new com ponents are added to the movie watching “experience.” Mason — Yeah, Regal Cinemas should looking into a merger with an escort service of some kind. Rebecca — Hmm ... the movie and prostitution industries in one convenient location? Well, it cer tainly worked in Sicily. But this “paradise” isn’t for Toto. Alfredo tells him that he is destined to break free of the monotony and repetition of small-town life. Toto takes the advice and doesn’t return until years later when he is in formed of Alfredo’s death. This nostalgic movie is cool on the basic principle that Italian is an elegant language. If they were to say “I stink of rotten tomatoes” in Ital ian, it would sound romantic and sexy. It is even funnier when you see John Wayne, dubbed in Italian, saying “I’m off to Oregon!” Here are some other quotes that sound better in Italian: “By God, they’re kissing!” — the ater patron “I won’t watch pornography!” — priest “Everyone get out! This is my plaza! ” — village idiot “Go work in Germany, you and your Stalin!” — villager Rebecca — Italian is an exclama tory language. Mason — Yeah, and there sure is a lot of hitting in movie. Good to see that the Italians embrace their own stereotypes. But humor aside, it is easy to think highly of foreign cinema be cause we don’t have a good frame of reference for the dialogue (see above paragraph). Still, the acting in this movie is excellent on all ac counts, especially by the young To to. Mason — Why do other coun tries always have better child actors than we do? Rebecca — I hear they genetical ly engineer them. Also, in keeping with the stan dards of foreign film, the cine matography is beautiful — some thing the bulk of American film has only recently caught up with. But it is the heartfelt story, not the images, that make this movie a pleasure to watch. For the true movie lover, there is little more exciting than watching a movie about how great movies are. It’s some kind of self-indulgent thing that is very common among the snooty movie-types who watch lots of foreign films. . Editor’s note: Rebecca Wilson is a former Pulse editor and currently freelances for the Emerald. 636-1166 •Delivery charges may apply •Not valid with any other offers •PLEASE mention the student special when ordering 258 E. 13th Eugene 342-7975 New & Used Vinyl’s CD’s & Tapes april 13-14,19-22,27-28 Mediations Services Robinson Theatre EMU Tickets 346-4363 ITT Box Office 346-4191 Hult Center 682-5000 IMVERSItV THEATRE SUPERSTftft ADVANCE ■nCKETSi TlX ALSO Universal * Delicious Pub Fare Great Specials • Handcrafted Ales and Wines Patio Seating Open \ North Bank 22 Club Road East 19th (541)343-5622 High Street Street Cafe Brewery & Cafe 1485 E. 19TH 1243 HIGH STREET (541 ) 342-4025 (541 ) 345-4905 \ A Place for Families & Friends All food, ales and wines available to go WWW.MCMENAMINS.COM Mil ADPIIlIflQ Find ODE stories since 1994 UU[ ftnillllVEU @ www.dailyemerald.com
