- Year: 1994
- Country: Italy/France
- Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
- Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Roman Polanski
If any director can be credited to opening me up to “World” cinema, it’s Giuseppe Tornatore. Watching “Cinema Paradiso” as a teenager did change how I saw movies, and what a film could make you feel. I’ve seen almost all of his films, and this one I’d been trying to find a good copy for many years. Nominated for 1994’s Palme D’or at Cannes, it tells, on the surface, what should be a simple story of a man (Dépardieu) brought in for questioning by the police as he is walking alone seemingly lost one stormy night. We do not know what crime he may or may not be accused of, and the Commissioner questioning him (Polanski) appears to know much more than he is letting on. The fun here is that the film pretty much all takes place inside the old, decrepit police station. You can forgive an action movie for having bad dialogue if the action scenes make up for it; a horror movie for the gaps in logic if it gave you a good scare, etc… but for a film to take place solely in one main location, there can be no weak link. And this is where the film works: intelligent story/script, creative camera angles, clever editing (by Tornatore, who took on the dual role of director and editor), a killer score by Ennio Morricone, and two insanely great performances by Dépardieu and Polanski, who go deep but also seem to have a lot of fun. I won’t go much more into the story line only to say this is one that will take you to unexpected places and a film that deserves to be seen a 2nd time. Try to go along for the ride and not jump to conclusions.
Cinema Del Peppel 