MovieChat Forums > Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1990) Discussion > The original release is better than the ...

The original release is better than the Director's cut

posted 15 years ago by isabelda
24 replies | jump to latest

I watched both versions and to me the original was way much better. The story kept simple but misterious because a lot of thing happened thar are left to our imagination.
The director's cut damage the ideal thought of what happened to Elena. She marries Toto's friend, that was dissapointing.
I prefer not knowing every little detail and just think that Elena and Toto's relationship is the typical love story in real life for thousands of people. Your love from teenage years is never forgotten but it's very difficult to keep forever. People grow up, change and move on with their lifes leaving towns, cities and even countries, but their nostalgic stories are always there to remind them they've changed for better or for worse.
That's my opinion. Now, want to read yours too.

[–] Coppolaleone 15 years ago

The directors cut damage the film as much as the directors cut of apocalyps now! The original is way better!

"Bara bip, bara bap, bara bop, bara bip." Santino Corleone.

[–] Oracle2959 15 years ago

I cannot fathom the ignorance in some of these posts. People, the original version was 3 hours long as shown first in Europe. American movie interests forced the movie to be chopped and dumbed down for American tastes. The ants in their pants Americans that cannot sit still for more than 90 minutes that have no conception of plot and character development.

When some of these "experts" talk about the original version they need to understand and make clear they are speaking of the heavily chopped up and cut American version. That's the "original" to them. The only version they ever saw. Most never even knew that american bastardized version infuriated Tornatore to no end. He never forgave the American movie execs after that fiasco. They butchered his love.

The high point of the entire film WAS the 13 minute car scene with Elena at the very end of the movie. For three hours you are exposed to one man's life and how one tiny misplaced piece of paper altered it forever.

He searches for the only woman he ever loved in his life. Everywhere he went and in every woman he was with he only saw Elena. When Elena finds him by the dock on the night before he is to leave is when the movie hits its stride. I have never in my life been so affected by a 13 minute conversation than the one Elena and Toto have. You must have a heart of steel not to break down and cry. And I am a guy!

From the moment Toto sees her face in the shadows swing into the light then change back to a 16 year old and change back to present it's all I can do to hold myself. I have to watch that scene alone or I will embarrass myself. Guys don't cry right?

When Elena finally realizes what actually happened that night and begins to tell her side with tears coming down her face.....well...it just rips my heart apart.

This isn't a kiddie movie. This isn't a movie for the squirmers or the "all's well that ends well" crowd. This is a movie that details with such extreme depth how an action so small and miniscule can have a life altering effect.

That 13 minute car scene with Elena is always good for three or four tissues with me. I could never, ever go back to the butchered, shortened American version. Impossible.

This post was composed under the magical influence of Fireflies by Fleetwood Mac

[–] locke325 15 years ago

Oracle stop lying.
It had nothing to do with Americans, and more with the local poor box office reception in Italy. The edited version was first shown outside of Italy in France at Cannes NOT America as you seem to think. This edited version won the Special Jury Prize and eventually in America, the Foreign Film Academy Award.

Personally, even if the added scenes are beautifully shot, they shouldn't be in the story when it detracts from the main theme of the film. The first two hours have a sense of joy and brisk to it, associated with the power of movies, while the extra scene feels like typical love story resolution tha really wasnt needed to complement the film.

To put it more simply, brevity is the soul of wit.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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