80
Metascore
21 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TimeRichard SchickelTimeRichard SchickelRemain open to fantasies but not be consumed by them. These are good lessons for a would-be director. They are good lessons for everybody. And no recent movie has taught them with more patient sweetness. [Feb. 5, 1990]
- 100The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jay ScottCinema Paradiso converts you to the credo that art can indeed be holy.
- 100San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleYou leave Cinema Paradiso with that feeling that's kind of like getting kicked in the stomach, but nice. It's one of those breathless, swept-away-by-a-movie experiences that you might have once a year, if you're lucky. [16 February 1990, Daily Notebook, p.E-1]
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAnyone who loves movies is likely to love Cinema Paradiso.
- 80Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonJust about everything you ever loved (or hated) about Italian films can be found.
- 75USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkLovely “memory'' film. [2 March 1990, Life, p.4D]
- 70Film.comJohn HartlFilm.comJohn HartlA sweet, funny exercise in nostalgia, though it's also self-congratulatory and awfully calculating.
- 50Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumOriginally a two-part film running about three hours, this treacle has been reduced by almost a third, though it still seems to run on forever -- a bit like life but much less interesting.
- 50TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThey don't make movies like they used to, and this Oscar-winning Italian-French co-production spends the better part of three hours proving it.
- 50Chicago TribuneDave KehrChicago TribuneDave KehrA few moments of sly inspiration are not enough to carry an entire feature; along with the tears, it leaves behind an aftertaste of phoniness. [16 March 1990, Friday, p.H]