There's not much that hasn't been said about this film. I will not try to convince anyone that this is a great film in almost every way.
However, a film with a major thread being the love story of the protagonist (as reflected and evoked by the amazing last sequence) drops that same thread like it never happened! Why? First, the director put too much of the ending to it in its first incarnation. Then he shortened it, at which point it was great and that was the version I saw. But then, someone convinced the director that the one single second after the credits was still too much (How is tying up loose ends too much?), and that got taken out. What we are left with is a film that has the most stupid ending and after-the-credits revelation ever! We see the protagonist look up at something that gets his attention, and cut to black.
That's it.
If you never saw the version I saw, you are left wondering. "What the heck did just happen? Can I see what he saw also?" No, you can't.
The first time I saw this latest and unfortunately the most popular version of the film, I thought I received an improperly made DVD. But ending was not done in error, it was fully intentional.
Finally, after seeing that the good version is all but non-existent, I had to come here to warn others: yes, there is a great version of "Cinema Paradiso" out there, but no, it is not available anymore. If you can find the 1990s US NTSC VHS tape, you can see it, otherwise, you are out of luck. It is either the new, shortest version of this film with a bad ending, or the original, overly long version with also a bad ending (That version did poorly in theaters which is why it was shortened).
Ah, the ruinous nature of never-ending fiddling with a good film. With the all important one second shot at the end of the credit, right after the protagonist looks up at something, it is a perfect 10. As it is, the film is lacking the single most important shot and does not deserve the praise it gets.
However, a film with a major thread being the love story of the protagonist (as reflected and evoked by the amazing last sequence) drops that same thread like it never happened! Why? First, the director put too much of the ending to it in its first incarnation. Then he shortened it, at which point it was great and that was the version I saw. But then, someone convinced the director that the one single second after the credits was still too much (How is tying up loose ends too much?), and that got taken out. What we are left with is a film that has the most stupid ending and after-the-credits revelation ever! We see the protagonist look up at something that gets his attention, and cut to black.
That's it.
If you never saw the version I saw, you are left wondering. "What the heck did just happen? Can I see what he saw also?" No, you can't.
The first time I saw this latest and unfortunately the most popular version of the film, I thought I received an improperly made DVD. But ending was not done in error, it was fully intentional.
Finally, after seeing that the good version is all but non-existent, I had to come here to warn others: yes, there is a great version of "Cinema Paradiso" out there, but no, it is not available anymore. If you can find the 1990s US NTSC VHS tape, you can see it, otherwise, you are out of luck. It is either the new, shortest version of this film with a bad ending, or the original, overly long version with also a bad ending (That version did poorly in theaters which is why it was shortened).
Ah, the ruinous nature of never-ending fiddling with a good film. With the all important one second shot at the end of the credit, right after the protagonist looks up at something, it is a perfect 10. As it is, the film is lacking the single most important shot and does not deserve the praise it gets.
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