The recent re-release trend may appear to be an altruistic gesture by filmmakers who offer audiences the opportunity to experience cinematic magic on the big screen all over again. But as I am reminded with each "Pick-A-Film: Redux," there is a fine line between altruism and self-indulgence.
Cinema Paradiso is the story of an accomplished film director, Salvatore, who returns to his small town in Sicily after almost 20 years away. Upon his arrival, he is flooded with boyhood memories and reminiscences over his formative experiences at the town's movie house. The plot is charming and the director oscillates between comedic moments and somber scenes with great acumen. But where Cinema really succeeds is in its more subtle perspectives on the history of cinema as a social phenomenon. The film reminds the audience that before there was ever television, children were raised, first loves were found and mob hits went down in the village movie theater. Cinema is as much an ode to young love and passion as it is a celebration of the cinematic medium itself.
However, the re-release of this 1989 academy award-wining film is perhaps a bit too gratuitous. Like Lucas, Coppola and Spielberg before him, director Giuseppe Tornatore adds close to an hour of extra footage in his second go round with Cinema, without ever significantly improving the quality of the film. Rather, at 2 hours and 49 minutes I found myself cursing Harvey Weinstein and Tornatore for attempting to make a quick buck by adding footage that wasn't good enough to make the first cut of this great film. Perhaps, today's redux filmmakers and producers are less concerned with delighting audiences again as much as fulfilling their own "artistic" whims.
