Dan -
Nice image! Since you’re so generous with giving everyone feedback, here’s some feedback for you.
Don’t let the bottom of the nose area go so black – add some warmth there, and to the ears. If you don’t want to use real sub-surface scattering for the skin, that’s fine. You could fake it with some warm fill or ambient. However you fix it, there shouldn’t be blackness in the skin, especially in thin translucent areas. Even right under the baseball cap, the skin shouldn’t go completely black. The lower part of his body should get similar lighting to the upper part; the legs and lower arms seem especially dark to me right now.
You need occlusion on the character. The edges of the sclera, where the forehead meets the cap, where the shorts surround his legs, etc. should all get some occlusion for more convincing contact.
Apart from needing occlusion on the sclera, the eyes are looking pretty good. I just think the pupils could be dilated more - not just for realism, but to helps his look. Make sure the highlight doesn’t go too high up on the screen-right iris, or it might brighten an area you’d expect lash shadows to block.
I don’t love the blue rim on his screen-left shoulder (it looks very hard for a T-shirt, and somewhat unmotived) or the blue kick on the screen-right side of his face. Maybe the fill light in the theater could be red (like an exit sign, or the bounce off the chairs?) That kick could probably be softer and warmer, and I think the rim could go away.
The projection booth is looking good. It could get brighter right near the lens, as in this image:
http://www.myreviewer.com/Cinema_Paradiso_Blu-ray_Review/a120088
If the window from the projection booth had some thickness, and the edges got brighter, it would be more believable, also as in the image. (And notice the redness inside the boy’s ears, although there’s probably better reference for skin elsewhere…)
The boy’s head shadow onto his shirt looks a bit hard and could be softened. He could cast more of a shadow onto the back of his chair, though, so that back of his seat doesn’t look so bright behind him.
The chairs look great. Maybe the chairs closer to him could get a bit brighter, just to show some progression, but this is just an idea.
-jeremy