Written and Directed by: Giuseppe Tornatore

BBD Comments:

Let me first apologize for falling asleep. I can’t believe I dozed off during our last night together in the Back Yard. It is in no way a reflection on my opinion of Coolbaugh’s final Selection.

‘Cinema Paradiso’ was the perfect pick for our last night and perhaps Coolbaugh’s finest hour since ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.’ It is sentimental. It is lyrical. It cherishes film. It cherishes life. Eric’s pick was a love song to Movienight, and was quite simply the best way to say goodbye to the Stucco.

As I missed much of the film, I will not spend much time speaking about this wonderful movie. It is important to note for those who watched it for the first time in the Back Yard that we watched the extended version of the film. While it is still wonderful, I have to admit that I prefer the original. The focus of the original is much more about the bond between Alfredo and Salvatore, and it omits the story line concerning Salvatore’s search for his lost love. It is the inclusion of this material that makes Coolbaugh’s claim that ‘Cinema Paradiso’ is a chick flick hold water. The original is nowhere near that dreaded category.

The climax of the film, where we see the magnificent series of forbidden kisses roll out, was as perfect an ending as our days in the Back Yard could hope for. It was as though the Stucco was being kissed, and after all the nights we spent adoring that wall, it was nice to see it finally get some sugar.

Coolbaugh, thank you for this pick. I have to say that I am at something of a loss to find the words to tell you what Movienight has meant to me (I’m so glad I invented it), but I know without you it will never be the same. The secret in my Selection process has always been to choose my pick for you. I have always loved film, and have been bonded to many people over the years by that love. You, I know, have had a very different relationship with the movies than I have. Movienight gave me the chance to share my passion with you, and watching your own love of film grow has been at the core of Movienight’s significance to me. Our group will continue (thanks to you and the HAL 9000), and Movienight will continue the Jam we built together, but it will always feel like there is an empty seat in whichever Back Yard adopts us.

Farewell my dear friend, and thank you for one more magnificent night together with the Stucco. I will still ask myself with every pick ahead, “Would Coolbaugh love this film?” That question has been my guiding star since this ball got rolling, and I will continue to steer by it.

Onwards, Eric.

I recommend the second star to the right, and straight on till morning...

Buffy Comments:

I just want to revel in the celebration of movies and life that is ‘Cinema Paradiso,’ seeing (as has been well-remarked upon to date) as it is the perfect way to end the first installment in the Movienight saga. Though I believe the raucous nature of the audience in the film would be in violation of the Movienight By-Laws, the spirit of enjoyment and camaraderie fits right in. My few patio nights (little did I know how few there would be) definitely carry that flavor of a less-cluttered time—who would know that outside the Stucco are cars, and stores, and billboards, and crap... Man, if there’s one movie that is a good representation of how advances in the automotive, communication and marketing industries have really crapped things up, this is it. That gorgeous square, open for playing and meeting and all that, turned to a damn parking lot surrounded by billboards. Real nice. But what you gonna do? They blew up the Cinema Paradiso, Alfredo died, Toto’s mama got old, Toto’s love got married; to everything there is a season, I suppose. Just like with Movienight moving on. (However, in Movienight’s case, we are hardly blowing up the theater, we are getting a pool! Woo!) I will say, I hope Toto made some good movies, considering Alberto sent him on that ill-defined mission and sabotaged his romance. What was up with that, anyway? Man cannot live by celluloid alone.

I first saw this movie as a fresh, fresh little babe, when it came out, in the theaters. I had a great craving for foreign film—had this idea it was very sophisticated, which was appealing to my naïve but artistically sensitive state of mind. You had to look a little harder for independent/foreign films back in the day, especially the places I’m from. This film is probably one of the first films to open big doors for independent and foreign film a bit more over here in our little redneck US of A. It delights me to no end to see it again today, after I’ve become all old and shit and seen a ton of arty and non-arty movies and lived and dreamed all these dreams. Too bad I’m not just like Toto, always waking up to some hot dude or another, ready for a long day on the set, but give it time…

Thanks, Coolbaugh. I miss you and your fine family already—I’m so glad Jocelyn joined us for the Last Stucco. See you up North—oh, and next week when you show up at the final OFFICIAL going away party, right? Thanks especially once again for extending the invitation to me to attend regularly. Who knew? Who could know? All I do know is, Movienight brings the awesome, in so many ways, and Coolbaugh brought it on. Listen, Coolbaugh, Coolbob: go, go to the North and don’t look back, don’t think of us, escape while there is still time. One day, when the Hal 9000 finally gives up the ghost (heaven forbid) we’ll call you and the nostalgic memories will all come flooding back. Think of the magic and understanding. Holla!

Netti Comments:

Waaaahhhh.hahhah. Goodbye stucco. Goodbye Movienight. Except for next week.  An appropriate end to Movienight's first incarnation was the choice of ‘Cinema Pardiso.’  A sentimental movie-lover's movie about loving movies for their sentimentality.  This is I think the third time I've seen this film.  It hasn't held up for me since I no longer give much time for that disease and/or oxytocin genetic trick that is "romantic love".  Yep. I said it. I don't believe in love. I have a hard heart, or at least it hardens heartily when it's covered in super sappy syrup such as this.  However, I still like sweet things from time to time and although it heads occasionally into the stratospheric proportions of high fructose corn syrup there are some wonderful moments told with a proper sprinkle of earnest love for the cinema. I can think of no better way to end an era of Movienight than with this Selection, which shows us that all good things come to an end and as Pat Robertson might have us believe that if you start allowing a simple kiss you'll end up with pornography and the whole building will have to be blown up.

Nubs Comments:

As the long week of celebrating the end of  MOMO/MOFO’s reign comes to a close,

I cant even remember much about his last Selection. Though, come to think of it, I didn’t have too much to say then or I would have been moved to write days before.  I can only reiterate what I said that night, which is chick flick or not - it had to be shown.

I’d never seen this cinematic tribute before and was in reverential awe that a movie exists which exemplifies all that we stand for.

There are so many obvious reasons why this movie is a perfect pick that in seems redundant to name. Instead I think its more unique to show how the pick also illustrates why some of our By-Laws are in place. First and foremost, time, time, time, see what’s become of me. I’ve become tired and frustrated to discover the version was the extended version not chosen on purpose. The other By-Law being our strict start time which is ok to violate if your pick is short. Now, I’m clearly not chastising Coolbaugh. He had carte blanche for his last pick. I just thought I should point out the flaws of the Selection as some excuse for the flaws in the film.

Finally, the last By-Law violated was our no chick-flick rule.  Now, I do agree with many that this is a silly rule that we should abolish, but it is worth pointing out that the extended version put this movie over the time limit and the added 25 minutes are classic chick flick, lost love, frivolity. I also agree with others that ‘Cinema Paradiso’ is not a chick-flick but the extended version is.

I don’t want to just critique Coolbaugh’s final pick for this small blemish on a great movie. Its just that the first half is such a beautiful tale of a relationship of two lost souls united by their common savior, the cinema. The first half is so compelling that the second half, after the theatre burns, drags in comparison. The less Alfredo is on the screen the more the movie suffers. I appreciated that the extended version brings him back into significance but it is not worth the addition of searching, tracking, and rediscovering the love interest which is the least interesting part of this story.

There I go again, trashing a movie I really enjoyed, and consider a Slam Dunk. I suppose the many charming parts of ‘Cinema Paradiso’ are taken for granted in this review. The story of a boy with a hopeless future given salvation by the moving light is invigorating and pertinent. I am so happy to have seen it, and even more so, to have seen it with all of you. ‘Cinema Paradiso’ shows us what I have always known: Cinema is our true parents. Like a good father figure, especially when one is not available, we emulate the characters on the screen. They teach us how to live and what to live for.

God Bless them, or should I say Cinema Bless us.

SELECTOR Comments:

As I stated in my preamble, there were a couple of very obvious reasons why I shouldn’t show ‘Cinema Paradiso.’ Chick flick. Long. But for the occasion – which was to celebrate our final evening on the Stucco – it became very clear to me that I had no other option. Usually I have a couple of picks in the chamber come Wednesday afternoon. Not this time. ‘Cinema Paradiso’ truly is the cinematic embodiment of what Movienight has meant to me. To us, I should say. And there was absolutely NO other way to say goodbye to the wall that has come to mean so much to us all. It’s one of the most heartfelt films ever made, and at its core, is an uncompromised love for film, and how film merely captures, packages and presents life…all through one person’s eyes.

The parallels to Movienight abound, and I won’t succeed if I try to recap them, so I won’t. But I honestly couldn’t believe it when I went back and watched this film again (for the first time since my 30th birthday, I might add). I’ve never had a more satisfying moment in the last 69 picks, than when Alfredo dazzles the crowd by slowly turning and reflecting the film through his window, out onto the stucco of a wall that had, for hundreds and hundreds of years, served merely as a wall – or a simple boundary to the piazza. But that special night, it all changed forever. The townsfolk knew it. And we knew it. Alfredo managed to know back then, what we of course all know now. Movies are meant to be grand. They’re meant to be fun. They’re meant to provide escape. And most importantly, they’re meant to be shared.

There is something special, this projecting of films. It takes on a life of its own. It’s contagious (as we all know) and in the film, it didn’t stop there. Alfredo’s Movienight ironically spawned a scenario much like our own. More friends. Better projectors. Better sound. Boats rowing up to the dock because they couldn’t afford the ticket. Alfredo’s version of Movienight didn’t discriminate. Come one. Come all. And judging by the attendance (largest ever) at last night’s pick, art merely imitates reality. I could think of no other way – and no other collection of friends – to enjoy The Shire with for one last evening.

When I started Movienight, I didn’t know films at all. I knew the standards (most of them), but not classics, not “deep tracks,” not anything outside the box. Movienight has provided a forum whereby people like me are exposed to films they’d never see otherwise. I’ve learned why film is important. Why it’s relevant. Why they’re special. I refer people to our website all the time, encouraging the viewing of these films (even though I know they’re not the same on a regular TV). I want to share.

But more importantly, through Movienight, I’ve met so many new people who I am so proud to call my friends. Without this regular forum, I’m quite certain many of us would have never met. I’d like to say a few words to the regulars…if you’ll allow me.

To the original 3, it goes without saying. Our friendship is older than Movienight, and it always will be. I have to leave to head back up north Monday morning (it’s Thursday now), so I won’t have time to write what you all mean to me.

But I will talk about the other regulars who have shown up damn near every Wednesday.

Jaja. I’m so glad to have gotten to know you as an adult. I’ve watched you grow up from a snotty 5-year old kid into a beautiful, strong young woman with the world at your will. I love that for the past two years, we’ve reconnected and you’ve become such a big part of my life, Jocelyn’s life, and Momo’s life. As much as it means to me to have you around and see you grow up, it’s ten-fold for Jocelyn. She is so proud of you. We both are. After we move, I really hope that you continue to enjoy Wednesday night films with these friends of ours – of yours – whenever and wherever the tradition ends up. Of course, if you end up in the Bay Area, you’re always welcome…we’ll be rocking up there too, but bring a jacket in addition to your comforter.

Netti – I’ve known you casually for years, but via Movienight, we’ve managed to build a friendship that I know will last for years to come. I’ll carry with me forever, the image of you walking up onto the porch, with your hat on your head, and your bottle of wine in your hand. I see that, it’s on. You may not know this, but you helped me dearly one Wednesday evening when things were clearly not going well for me…I was at the absolute end of my rope. That night, you helped me put it all into perspective, and that single moment changed the direction of my entire life. I’ll never forget that. Thank you.

Slim - Few people have come to Movienight and so quickly understood the essence of what it was all about. You immediately expressed a love for this forum that could only be described as unconditional. It was clear to me from the moment you saw your first frame on the wall, you were hooked, and you would be back again and again. Awesome. I just ordered your book online (through movienightonline.com, of course), and am anxious to receive and read it. Good luck to you as you cut your tethers and go for it. It’s the only way to achieve greatness, of which I’m certain you’re destined for. That book better not suck.

Buffy – You are as much a part of Movienight as anybody now. Your story is an amazing one. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you better, and look forward to more of the same in the future. But for you to come into this circle of friends, not really knowing anyone, and to get hooked says it all. And then to come right back the next Wednesday, and every Wednesday since, gives me the most pleasure in all of Movienight’s accomplishments. You came. You fell in love with the Stucco. It speaks volumes of your personality, your character and your passion for films and now, our friendship. You will forever be a part of what we’ve done…in the past, present and future. And I look forward to our next karaoke evening. Hey Ya. I also look very forward to seeing what you pick, when your time comes…which I’m sure it will.

And to all the semi-regulars – thank you for being so supportive and committed to Movienight. Without the film, we have only friends. Without the friends, we have only films. Put them together, and we have Movienight.

Onward.

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