Giuseppe Tornatore's CINEMA PARADISO hits Blu-ray, DVD and 4K UHD from Arrow/MVD

A wonderful Christmas present that checks off the whole list of boxes -- nostalgia, family, friendship, love of cinema, coming-of-age films, and movies-about-movies among these -- Arrow Academy's release this holiday month of 1990's Oscar-winning Best Foreign Language Film, CINEMA PARADISO, is cause for celebration. Written and directed by Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, who has never made an uninteresting film and in fact has given us several terrific ones, the movie (which I had not seen since it's original release) holds up beautifully. 

Signore Tornatore (pictured at left), at this point in time, has offered up something doubly, maybe triply, nostalgic. The film begins as a remembrance via an aging adult male who has just been informed of someone's death in the small Sicilian village where he grew up.

As the past is relived, we're awash in marvelous old movie images from so many European and American movie classics, as we learn that the dear departed -- the projectionist at the local cinema -- was the man who helped this boy find his place in life as well as his career. 

That's right: a projectionist of film, a profession that today barely exists in our current age of digital. When was the last time you were in a theater in which a projectionist ran the film? For that matter, when was the last time you were even in a theater? Add another layer of nostalgia here. Proust would kvell.

That this projectionist/mentor is played by that late, great and amazing French actor, Philippe Noiret (above, top) is another huge plus, along with the beautiful job done by Salvatore Cascio (below with Noiret and on poster, top), who plays the adorable, energetic, funny and altogether delightful child in what is one of the truly memorable performances by children in the history of film.

Early in the movie we're made aware how the village priest rather doubles as the town's censor, making certain that any scenes involving sex or even the idea of it -- kissing in particular -- are removed from the film before his parishioners can view them. One of the strengths of the film is how the culture, politics, religion and economics of this lively little village comes to life. The scenes set in the cinema itself are among the movie's best.  

Nearly half of Cinema Paradiso involves our hero as a child. Once he transitions to young adult, the character is played by the then-gorgeous young actor Marco Leonardi, (above, left, and below, right) in whose budding love life we (and the projectionist) become involved.

If Tornatore is not a particularly subtle filmmaker, neither is he heavy-handed. Cinema Paradiso is broad in both style and performance, but all of it works and at precisely the right level. (Only the not-so-great old-age make-up seen on some of the characters toward film's end stands out as too much.) The film also grows more beautiful visually as it moves along.

"Movies are finished," one character intones toward the finale, and soon our now-aged hero is walking through the old deserted and dilapidated movie house that once brought him such joy. The film has renewed resonance today, as we watch what might be the last gasp of movie theaters worldwide, due to this ongoing pandemic. Let's hope not.

From Arrow Academy, distributed here in the USA via MVD Entertainment Group, and full of terrific extras that include a nearly hour-long recap of Tornatore and his career (up until 2000, when the documentary was made) which will make you want to go back and watch every one of his films once again; another half-hour doc about the making of this film, its sudden withdrawal from the Berlin Film Fest, its subsequent wondrous Cannes debut, and who picked it up for U.S. distribution; and finally a recap of the famous kissing sequence, with each film and actors identified. Cinema Paradiso arrived on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD earlier this month. If you're already a fan, a revisit is in order. If you've never seen this lovely, award-winning film, what delight lies ahead!

Add to your must-see list Giuseppe Tornatore's gorgeous tale of obsessive love THE BEST OFFER

Have movies given us a more splendid story-teller than Giuseppe Tornatore? I don't think so. From Cinema Paradiso through The Legend of 1900, Malèna, The Unknown Woman and Baarìa, film after film is packed with everything I love about movies -- being able to lose myself in a story at once strange, wonderful and absolutely riveting and so gorgeously designed and photographed that each becomes an instant classic. Now we have THE BEST OFFER, yet another amazement from this beauty-besotted, quality-over-quantity artist.

Signore Tornatore, shown at left, has brought together a swell international cast for this English-language movie, each member working at top form and joining to make a near-perfect ensemble quartet. The milieu is the international art world, specifically the auction house owned by Virgil Oldman (a terrific Geoffrey Rush, below, center), a man who seems as remote from actual life and emotion as might be possible. Possessing an eye for art that is pretty extraordinary, Oldman has managed to run, over the years, a fine little scam, with the help of his friend Billy (Donald Sutherland), in which Billy helps sell paintings not worth all that much for higher prices, while allowing Oldman to acquire others that are likely to grow exponentially in value. Considered to be the expert in art evaluation, as well as the top auctioneer, Oldman is riding high.

Then he is asked to evaluate and handle the auctioning of the estate owned by an ultra-reclusive heiress, and bit by bit his life changes and expands -- as does that of the heiress.

In to this mix comes Robert, a young man whom Oldman often uses to repair watches and other mechanical items from the estates he handles. Robert is played by Jim Sturgess (above) in his most boyish, charming and winning mode. And if you know Sturgess' work, this is very winning.

The heiress, whom we do not see for some time, is played by Dutch actress Sylvia Hoeks, above, chosen no doubt for her beauty and exotic quality as much as for her acting skills. She delivers on all three fronts.

What Tornatore has given us is a mystery as much as anything else. But it is also very much a love story, and an obsessive one, at that. Oldman will do things and go places utterly new to his world, and we follow, entranced by the beauty and strangeness of it all. Performances could hardly be better, particularly those of Rush and Sturgess, and the visual delights here are simply non-stop. I hope I live long enough to see more of this filmmaker's wonderful work, and that he keeps at it long after I'm gone.

The Best Offer, via IFC Films and running not a minute too long at 128 of them, is available now on DVD (if any movie deserves the Blu-ray treat-ment, it's this one) but, oddly, not available via digital rental. Netflix really ought to have this one on streaming. It has garnered an IMDB rating of 7.8 from over 51,000 viewers -- which is nothing to sneeze at, movie fans.

DVD/Blu-ray/Streaming debut: Don't miss Giuseppe Tornatore's masterpiece BAARÌA

Single-handedly making streaming a necessity (unless you've got a Blu-ray player: in which case, order the movie that way), the recent addition of BAARÌA to DVD/Blu-ray/streaming capability is something for which great gratitude is called. The latest from Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, The Unknown Woman and other fine films), this modern masterpiece -- and I do not use that word lightly -- takes us to the writer/director's home town of Bagheria (for which, I am guessing, Baarìa is a kind of nickname) over a period that spans more than three generations.

Tornatore, shown at right, takes a major risk with this film by making it move so fast via very short scenes that often fly by and seem to last only long enough to provide content without any accompanying depth. This proves not true, however; that depth arrives as the movie grows and builds, and we become hugely involved with the three generations of the Sicilian family whose story is told here. Even the subsidiary characters take on surprising weight, and the movie's real themes -- class, Italian culture and mores, the uses of politics and the importance of family -- come quickly to the fore and stay there, accumulating both power and force.

The photography (Enrico Lucidi) is ravishing, the town and sets and accouterments are often eye-popping, and the lead performances from mostly unknowns (on this side of the Atlantic, at least) are stellar and on-point.

The movie begins in the time of Mussolini (above) and continues through to nearly present-day (below).

Tornatore uses a small child on an errand to begin his film, with a scene of running through the town faster and faster -- and then, in a feat of breathtaking beauty and surprise, lifts us-- and the film -- into the heavens and to an overview of life that it grasps and holds onto throughout.

Toward the end the filmmaker manages to combine present and past into a single unity that seems both bold and heart-breaking. He uses ancient customs -- broken eggs -- to herald events and even gives us a sweet look at how early Sicilian home cooling systems worked (at left). Tornatore uses place and character so keenly and poignant-ly that brief moments shown early come back to haunt us with surprisingly effectiveness.

We see and hear much about Italian political parties -- Communists, Socialists, Christian Democrats, reformists and more -- with the icing on the cake provided by one family, the father of which explains its voting process, guaranteed to render all votes useless.

This is the second time I've seen Baarìa; the first was two years ago when the film made its USA debut as part of the FSLC's Open Roads series. (Sadly, it never received a theatrical release here in the USA.) I found watching it again as riveting as the first time, with the overall mark it made as strong as ever, even though many specific scenes seemed new. I suspect the film will become one of those I will watch again every few years, experiencing its joy and pain anew. You should see it at least once.

Baarìa, at a speedy and gorgeous two-and-one-half hour length, is available now for sale, rental or streaming via Amazon, or for rental and streaming at Netflix, and for rental at Blockbuster.  I imagine you can find it elsewhere, too, but these three sources should give you a good start....

The photo above are from the film itself, 

except for that of Signore Tornatore, 

which comes courtesy of Exposay.com