No Cinema Paradiso

Rating: 6/10 (8 April 2012)

This film does not have a single relationship of note in it. I have no idea who is the lead character and as an ensemble it completely falls flat. I have no idea who reviews these movies but they have lost they're sense of smell. The acting was one dimensional and this is not the fault of the actors, this is the fault of the script. Actors are only allowed to express a single emotion throughout the entire film. There were also many seemingly useless characters in the film like the bookshop owner, the tea couple, the flower lady - I have no idea why those characters were given any time. There seemed to be three main stories but none of them were convincing or drawn out. They were superficial ham-fisted portrayals and with over 2 hours of this you have to wonder who edits in Hollywood anymore. There was a love scene to early cinema at various points which is absurdly odd as it has only the most tenuous link to the boys story - it goes on for a long time and is nothing more than a gratuitous and frankly tedious lecture - what happened to 'show don't tell' direction.
The sets looked like expensive lush sets and nothing more, no relationships, no lead character but extremely poor ensemble, confusing story arc with sections of what might as well be a documentary on early cinema - all wrapped in a bow with, count them, 4 happy endings.
If you want to see a good movie that inspired this extremely poor knock off then look for Cinema Paradiso and see how it should be done.