A Pure Formality ( Una Pura Formalita') (1994)

It's a far cry from Tornatore's masterpiece Cinema Paradiso. Here he takes a different approach using a twist ending. I just didn't really like the twist. I was guessing it was kind of Shutter Island-ish but it was a slightly different twist. There are some good things about the movie though. This is a two-hander, with both Gerard Depardieu and Roman Polanski giving excellent performances. One minor quirk I don't understand is why they speak French but all the on-screen text is in Italian. The production design gives you a miserable feeling, making you feel uncomfortable (and damp as the rain is incessant and the police station is leaking and flooding all over).

Cinema Paradiso (1988)

I cannot say enough good things about the beautiful love letter to the movies that is Cinema Paradiso. It is my new personal favorite and I will attempt to delve into why it resonated with me so much. But I have found that it is difficult to describe in words. There is something that is so magical about movies that the images simply transcend language. This is one such movie whose beauty speaks for itself.

I was deeply moved by this movie about love of cinema. I identified with Toto’s lifelong passion for movies. There is an incredible scene in which Alfredo projects a movie on a building in the public square. And the viewer watches the image travel across the walls in a beautiful tracking shot until it finally shoots out the window into the square. Of course, this is all backed by Ennio Morricone’s brilliant melodic score. The love theme has been stuck in my head all week—I particularly like the use of the violin.

Most of the movie is told as a flashback to Toto’s childhood (young Toto is adorable and a surprisingly good actor). This is significant as a major theme of the movie is nostalgia. Alfredo instructs Toto to not look back on the past and he obeys for thirty years. But I think the reason the movie evokes so much emotion is because the movie itself is nostalgic. It is nostalgic for a time in which the entire community gathered at the cinema, when the movie theater was the center of life. It is unabashedly sentimental, but I think stops just short of being too schmaltzy. The story itself isn’t inherently emotional, but the movie preys on the viewers’ own cinephilia. The prime example is the famous final scene. I have watched it back several times, and I have teared up every time. I don’t think there were any tears of sadness throughout the movie (maybe just the sadness that the movie is over and that we actually live outside of the world of film). They are tears of joy. It is hard to describe but I am overwhelmed by the love of movies. And it is incredible.

The Hateful Eight (2015)

I think the perfect word to describe this movie is self-indulgent. For one, it is way too long, clocking around three hours. And when your movie is so long, it can't be so slow--I kind of fell asleep a little in the middle. The story is told in several distinct chapters, which enhances the epic grandeur that Tarantino tries to evoke. And I understand that the first few set up the story, but they are too long for just setup.  There is the usual gratuitous amount of hyperbolic graphic violence and lots of inappropriate language. I'm all for free speech, but Tarantino  is a little too comfortable using the N-word. The most problematic aspect of the movie: no likable characters.

That being said the movie does some things very well. The storytelling is strong. I am surprised that Tarantino wasn't nominated for his screenplay. The story is mostly told linearly, but there is one chapter of flashback to make a crucial revelation that totally turns the story on its head. The last half of the movie is significantly better than the first. Most of the movie takes place in a single room, and we change perspectives in this one room. Some chapters also use narration, which is out of place since it is only present in some chapters, but it somehow works. The cinematography is also pretty incredible. The white snow is expansive and there is a great shot that is half pure white and half pure blue sky. But the very best aspect of this movie is Ennio Morricone's score. It is quintessentially western.