As a well known Italian film director returns home for the funeral of an old friend, he remembers his early life encompassing his love affair with the beautiful Elena, devotion to movies and friendship with Alfredo, projectionist at the Cinema Paradiso...

The good thing about foreign films is that we generally only get to see the very best, as distributors very rarely want to risk a dud. Even so, I was apprehensive about sitting down to watch the director's cut (1994) of Cinema Paradiso as it lasts for almost three hours. Thankfully, it is highly watchable. In fact, it now ranks very high up my list of favourite films of all time.

The film's story relies heavily on the dialogue. This is nothing like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon where you can get away with missing a few subtitles. With Cinema Paradiso, your concentration needs to be 100% throughout. Although intimidating at first, the story is so good that before long you begin to read the words subconsciously and can do nothing to stop yourself being drawn into the story.

Cinema Paradiso tells the story of Salvatore (nicknamed Toto), a boy who grew up fatherless in a small Sicilian village in the forties and fifties. Now a successful film director, he returns home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was projectionist at the local cinema throughout Salvatore's childhood. Memories come flooding back as he remembers his love affair with the beautiful Elena.

The film flows like a love letter, capturing the very magic behind cinema. Through the story we discover how vital movies can be in the lives of ordinary people. We see how dynamically films were changing during the old glory days of Hollywood