The Legend of 1900 ***

Writer/Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Year: 1998

Cinematographer: Lajos Koltai

A good movie, but for some reason, like Cinema Paradiso, I find myself lacking connection to the big operatic cinema of Tornatore.

I don't get the personal connection to his characters, and although these fables are big in concept, and the does hit all the right cinematic cues... it lacks something of substance, and its hard for me to describe.

I suppose I need to meditate more on what exactly my criticism of Tornatore is, but the bottom line is that this movie misses for me.

I like Tim Roth, I like turn of the 20th century settings, I like jazz and the inclusion of Jelly Roll Morton (the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz) as a key character in the plot...

but it never got to my heart. It seemed like it wanted to, but like opera, seems too big to relate to.

See it if you like jazz, Tim Roth's acting, or the early 2oth century as a setting. Or grandiose filmmaking.