Cinema Paradiso

Among many other losses, in 2020 the world became bereft of movie score sensation Ennio Morricone. His music is synonymous with Italian cinema, perhaps best captured here in his first collaboration with director Giuseppe Tornatore. Set to Morricone and his son Andrea’s romantic score, a story of how cinema can save unfolds in postwar Italy as a young boy befriends the projectionist at the titular movie house. There’s love, laughter, and movie quotes – all spun together for a nitrate narrative that’s earned its place in every “people watching movies in movies” montage. – James Scott