Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso was Ennio Morricone's first score for Giuseppe Tornatore, in 1988, and began a collaboration that lasted until Morricone's death; the love theme in it was written not by him but by his son Andrea, then in his twenties. The film failed at its first release in Italy at nearly three hours and succeeded internationally only after being cut by almost an hour, taking the Academy Award for best foreign language film. The score is unusually restrained for Morricone: a small string ensemble, no percussion, and the two main themes stated with almost no development.