La strada per il paradiso

Paradise was a beautiful yet underappreciated movie. If it weren't for HBO I probably would have never seen it.

Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson play a married couple who's relationship is falling apart after the death of their baby son. Both are very good actors and play their parts very well. The scene in the attic when Don comes home drunk is amazing and not the mess that it had the potential of being.

Elijah Wood is playing a small a 10 year old I believe who's father says that he's away at work but is really leaving his mother. He is in private school and doesn't have any friends. One summer his mother sends him to his aunt's house, most likely to try to hide the truth from him. Elijah isn't the best actor, but he's very good for his age. Not to mention the cutest thing that you've ever seen.

Thora Birch is a little country girl who doesn't know who her father is and has a mother who really can't keep a relationship to save her life. She doesn't have many friends either but is very smart and inquisitive. Thora Birch is incredibly adorable and well on her way to her excellent role in 'American Beauty.'

The movie is somewhat slow moving at the beginning but builds up to a great movie. Everything is believable. Don and Melanie are great together. Thora Birch and Elijah Wood also make a great duo. This is definitely a film worth seeing. Don't be turned off just because you haven't heard of it. It's better than a lot of that trash that is highly advertised.

Surprisingly good. The cinematography and screenplay were excellent. Griffith played the role beautifully as did Don Johnson. This was the only movie that I liked both actors in. Elijah Wood's best performance too. This movie should have been nominated for many awards. It isn't often that the screenplay, acting, setting and theme come together so poignantly and effectively. I'd give this movie a 10.

I was surprised and touched by this film, starring two actors I do not normally enjoy. The on-screen chemistry between Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, as grieving parents, isolated in their grief, was amazing. Elijah Wood is convincing in his role as a friend's child, visiting the couple, and going through his own family turmoil. Also excellent is Thora Birch, one of the most gifted child actors I have had the pleasure of watching. A wonderfully touching and uplifting film about hope and risk and coming home. One of my top five movies!

The movie concerns a little boy (Elijah Wood) who is sent by his pregnant mummy to remain the idyllic summer with a marriage of old friends (Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) in the countryside . The couple has numerous problems caused by an unfortunate tragedy happened years earlier . Meanwhile , Elijah befriends his neighbour small girl and takes interest in Don Johnson , fishing shrimps and speaking about interesting issues . They gave a boy a summer he'd always remember. He gave them back the love they lost. It would take a miracle to save their love... and that's just what they got.

This is a brilliant and touching story , although sometimes results to be slow-moving and tiring , but is developed with real intelligence and extreme sensibility . In the picture is treated ethic and moral themes narrated with great sense of fairness and ductility . Melanie Griffith's (at the time wedded Steven Bauer , Don Johnson until Antonio Banderas) interpretation is pretty good , she plays an embittered woman who will have to face off a traumatic truth . Elijah Wood as a sensitive and agreeable boy is nice , he's a newcomer and would have much success years later , becoming himself a first-class world star (Lord of the rings) . Thora Birch is enjoyable , she is ready as a future star (American beauty , The Hole , Ghost world) . Excellent and sensitive musical score by David Newman . Besides , exceptional and awesome cinematography by Jerzy Zielinsky , being stunningly shown on the marvelous outdoors in the country . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue (Beaches) . Rating : 7/10. Essential and indispensable watching . Better than average and well worth seeing.

I wrote a short essay after watching this movie, not because it affected me, but that it left such a great impression. To me, the use of 'Paradise' as title is apt, as the movie goes to show how many people continue to live in their private hells, when all around them is a place which seems like paradise. These people, though socially interactive at times, seem more preoccupied with the ghosts of their pasts rather than the blessings of the moment. Only when these characters are able to let go of the demons that haunt them are they able to once again experience the joys of love and intimacy.

This film can help us to evaluate the things that we allow to control us, and help us to understand that instead of examining our lives under a microscope, we should allow ourselves to look up and out sometimes, and maybe discover all those things missing in our lives but which were right by us all the time.