Cinema Paradiso 4K UHD - Giuseppe Tornatore

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Cinema Paradiso' )

directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Italy 1988

A winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, 5 BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more.

Giuseppe Tornatore's loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier.

***

Cinema Paradiso is the beautiful, enchanting story of a young boy's lifelong love affair with the movies. Set in an Italian village, Salvatore finds himself enchanted by the flickering images at the Cinema Paradiso, yearning for the secret of the cinema's magic. When the projectionist, Alfredo, agrees to reveal the mysteries of moviemaking, a deep friendship is born. The day comes for Salvatore to leave the village and pursue his dream of making movies of his own. Thirty years later he receives a message that beckons him back home to a secret, beautiful discovery that awaits him in this acclaimed film from director Giuseppe Tornatore.

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 29th, 1988 (Bari EuropaCinema Festival)

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Review: Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Arrow - Region FREE - 4K Ultra HD
Runtime	2:02:55.117 (Theatrical), includes Blu-ray of the Director's Cut: 2:53:31.442
Video	1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,088,279,954 bytes Feature: 91,666,921,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 89.97 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
Audio	LPCM Audio Italian 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio Italian 2303 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2303 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (US), English (UK), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Arrow 1.66:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,088,279,954 bytes Feature: 91,666,921,344 bytes Video Bitrate: 89.97 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video Edition Details: • Audio commentary with director Giuseppe Tornatore and Italian cinema expert critic Millicent Marcus • A Dream of Sicily A 52-minute documentary profile of Giuseppe Tornatore featuring interviews with the director and extracts from his early home movies as well as interviews with director Francesco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by the legendary Ennio Morricone (54:46) • A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise A 27-minute documentary on the making of Cinema Paradiso and the characters of Toto and Alfredo, featuring interviews the actors who play them, Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore (27:27) • The Kissing Sequence Giuseppe Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes with clips identifying each scene (7:02) • Original Director's Cut Theatrical Trailer and 25th Anniversary Re-Release Trailer Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone, illustrated with original archive stills 4K UHD Release Date: December 7th, 2020 Black 4K UHD Case inside slipcase Chapters 12

Comments:

ADDITION: Arrow Academy 4K UHD (December 2020): Arrow Academy have transferred the theatrical version of Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso to 4K UHD. While released only 4-years after Arrow's last Blu-ray set of the film, the 4K UHD image quality is striking for the lush and heavy grain and deep richness of colors. At the highest bitrate I have ever seen (90 mbps - triple that of their last BD), the visuals are jaw dropping. Fans who love film grain will adore this 3840 X 2160 1.66:1 presentation, as easily the most film-like. It can lean blue sometime son my system. Interiors can be very dark - but details are not obscured - they simply advance to another layer of subtlety. This is presented in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) and is a stunning revelation for fans familiar with the, already, strong Blu-rays (compared HERE.)

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

NOTE: 54 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE.

We have reviewed the following 4K UHD packages to date: The Bourne Legacy (software uniformly simulated HDR), Full Metal Jacket (software uniformly simulated HDR), Psycho (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Birds(software uniformly simulated HDR), Rear Window (software uniformly simulated HDR), Vertigo (software uniformly simulated HDR), Spartacus (software uniformly simulated HDR), Jaws (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Invisible Man, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucio Fulci's 1979 Zombie (software uniformly simulated HDR),, 2004's Van Helsining (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shallows (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Bridge on the River Kwai (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Deer Hunter (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Elephant Man (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Quiet Place (software uniformly simulated HDR), Easy Rider (software uniformly simulated HDR), Suspiria (software uniformly simulated HDR), Pan's Labyrinth (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Wizard of Oz, (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Shining, (software uniformly simulated HDR), Batman Returns (software uniformly simulated HDR), Don't Look Now (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Man Who Killed Killed and then The Bigfoot (software uniformly simulated HDR),, Bram Stoker's Dracula (software uniformly simulated HDR), Lucy (software uniformly simulated HDR), They Live (software uniformly simulated HDR), Shutter Island (software uniformly simulated HDR), The Matrix (software uniformly simulated HDR), Alien (software uniformly simulated HDR), Toy Story (software uniformly simulated HDR), A Few Good Men (software uniformly simulated HDR), 2001: A Space Odyssey (HDR caps udated), Schindler's List (simulated HDR), The Neon Demon (No HDR), Dawn of the Dead (No HDR), Saving Private Ryan (simulated HDR and 'raw' captures), Suspiria (No HDR), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (No HDR), The Big Lebowski, and I Am Legend (simulated and 'raw' HDR captures).

This audio has no reason to go the Dolby Atmos route. Arrow offers a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) ion the original Italian OR the options of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround bump - notable mostly in the fire and demolition sequences. Ennio Morricone's (Danger: Diabolik, Who Saw Her Die?, The Black Belly of the Tarantula, The Fifth Cord, Luna, A Bullet for the General, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, U Turn, Stay As You Are etc. etc.) music (and contributions from son, Andrea) is so powerfully utilized in Cinema Paradiso. It imbues a sense of memory and overwhelming emotion. It sounds as clean and clear as the last Blu-ray. There are optional English (US) and English (UK) subtitles offered and as with all 4K UHD discs, this is Region 'Free' - playable worldwide.

The Arrow Academy 4K UHD contains the same commentary as found on the 2013 Blu-ray; Giuseppe Tornatore and Millicent Marcus (Ph.D. Yale, 1974) who specializes in Italian culture from the interdisciplinary perspectives of literature, history, and film. She is the author of Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism. Tornatore's comments are inserted but there is plenty of value here. Repeated from the first Arrow Blu-ray are the 55-minute long documentary Giuseppe Tornatore's A Dream of Sicily - a profile of Giuseppe Tornatore featuring interviews with director and extracts from his early home movies as well as interviews with director Francesco Rosi and painter Peppino Ducato, set to music by the legendary Ennio Morricone. The 1/2 hour A Bear and a Mouse in Paradise - on the genesis of Cinema Paradiso, the characters of Toto and Alfredo, featuring interviews with the actors who play them, Philippe Noiret and Salvatore Cascio as well as Tornatore - and the 7-minute Kissing Sequence where Giuseppe Tornatore discusses the origins of the kissing scenes with full clips identifying each scene. Lastly on the 4K UHD disc, is a 25th Anniversary Re-Release trailer.

Included is the 2016 Blu-ray (see M2TS files HERE), with the (1080p) presentation of the 174 minute Director's Cut and the booklet featuring new writing on the film by Italian cinema expert Pasquale Iannone, illustrated with original archive stills.

Nutt'in new but the video - but that's enough.

One of the most beloved films of all time, Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso is essential cinema. Cinephiles have a direct connection with its narrative. The 4K UHD is quite the step-up forward in video. I'm so glad that Arrow continue their support of films like this in the 3840 X 2160 format. This is an easy upgrade to our Desert Island Discs in the next update. You.must.own.

Gary Tooze