Nuovo Cinema Paradiso - Director's Cut (1989)

For the most part, I really liked Cinema Paradiso. I've never seen it before, so I decided to go with the Director's Cut, since it's supposed to be closest to Tornatore's original vision. I liked Legend of 1900, even though it's unavailable in the US, aside from the highly truncated 125-minute cut. Didn't want to make the same mistake twice, ya know.

So, Cinema Paradiso was really good. Very sentimental, touching, entertaining, warm, just about all you'd want in a movie. It's biggest fault is its own schmaltz. For the most part, it's "quality schmaltz" as Mr. Weinberg would say, bot there are quite a few moments when it's so overbearing that it makes you say "oh, come on!" The other big personal peeve I had with the movie is when Elena enters Salvatore's life. Now, I'm all for a good romance, and I'll be the first to get choked up when it's well done. But, I just can't buy someone falling madly in love with a girl based on her being beautiful, and making small talk for a couple of minutes in total. Call me cynical, but I ain't buying it. But then again, I nearly forgot all about it when they kissed in the projection room. Awww...

I thought that it would be one of those movies about movies, where being a film fanatic and beliving in the magic of cinema would be necessary to understanding and feeling something for the film, but that's not the case. It's presented in such a way that anybody can see the magical qualities that the cinema can hold for some. There's also plenty of humor littered here and there to lighten the tone, and to relax the viewer's jaw muscles from time to time.

One thing I picked up on was the ending montage, of all the kissing edited from the films shown at the Paradiso. The entire scene is supposed to make you recall memories of Salvatore and Elena's kiss in the rain, as shown on the cover. The moment is one of the central images at the hearty of the film, and the final sequence makes you leave the movie with that image in mind, whether subliminally or otherwise.

Princess Mononoke/Mononoke-hime (1997)

I don't know what took me so long, but I finally saw Mononoke and I loved it. I'm pretty late getting into Miyazaki, but I'm definitely diving into his canon with gusto. I've only previously seen Spirited Away, but I really liked the unbridled imagination behind it, and the incredibly creative ideas and fantastic elements within. Mononoke is no different.

Miyazaki's imagination has an almost magical quality, and from the first moments of one of his films, you're drawn into an entirely different world, which parallels our own in some ways, but is completely fantastic and whimsical in many others. He creates another world that, despite being so very different from ours, we understand completely. The worlds of Mononoke and Spirited Away have their own sets of rules, their own laws, their own wonderfully created characters and their own immersive, detailed visual styles. When watching a Miyazaki film, I can't help falling in love and wanting to share it with everybody I know, with an open, imaginative mind. If I ever end up having some rascals of my own, I plan on exposing them to Miyazaki at a very early age.

Though Miyazaki's work is whimsical and full of wonder and awe, it always contains a deep, underlying message that stays with you long after the credits roll. Mononoke is an allegorical fable. At its heart, it's about man versus nature. Its message is that of Reggio's brilliant Koyaanisqatsi, or Life Out of Balance. Mononoke isn't preachy, it shows both sides of the battle, each with their own views and sympathetic qualities.

It's hard to talk about Princess Mononoke without geeking out about how much I loved it. Hey, remember that one part in the beginning where that huge mass of wormy things crawls up, and it's this huge boar underneath? That was awesome. What about when the Deer God first appears and the Kodama all start rattling their heads around and the 5.1 surrounds you and it's eerily beautiful? Oh yeah, remember that one part where Sen is all running around on the rooftops, all crazy-like? And they she has that badass duel with Lady Eboshi? That rocked.

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Continuing with my Wajda/BBO babbling...I recieved Discs 2 and 3 of the Andrzej Wajda set yesterday. As luck would have it, both discs 2 and 3 ended up being disc 1 - A Generation. Two copies of the disc, neither of which were in the correct sleeve. I emailed BBO explaining everything to them, just hoping that it helps other customers who want the Wajda films, but I doubt they'll care.