I might have said some bad things about Martin Scorsese sometime in the late 90s, probably after I saw Bringing Out the Dead. I wanted so badly to enjoy that film -- to re-experience some version of Taxi Driver -- but it just didn't happen. Soon after, he directed Gangs of New York, a film that felt unnecessarily long and theatrical. (Maybe turn-of-the-century New York was too distant a subject to his preferred backdrop of the Lower East Side circa 1970?) The Aviator forced me to question Leonardo DiCaprio's sense of good taste and whether or not Scorsese was still capable of delivering a daring, no-nonsense, unforgiving, meaningful film ever again. I wondered if he had been Spielberged in some way: had he given up on the visual style that graced his early work, defining for generations of filmmakers to come a unique way to play with perspective, conventions of editing, and audience's expectations? The Rolling Stones aside, what happened to his good taste?Then in 2005 he directed No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, a D.A. Pennebaker-esque journey into the living legend's life. Here suddenly was a film that didn't feel like Hollywood. It felt like vintage Scorsese.
Even some of his recent mainstream films have revealed a return to a cinematic style worthy of acclaim. The Departed, a film with an all-star cast, dripping with Hollywood energy, was surprisingly unlike some of the hyped but predictable and ultimately disappointing Boston-based, troubled cop melodramas that were released roughly around the same time (Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River).
Shutter Island wasn't groundbreaking, but it wasn't disappointing either. It held my attention, looked amazing, and showed aspects of Scorsese's daring side. He had made psychological horrors before, but not like this one. This film had a beautiful ugliness that few are capable of orchestrating on this scale. Music never takes a backseat in his films, and this film particularly relied on sound to envelope audiences, using works by masters of sonic invention like John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, and others, favoring dissonance over harmony. Shutter also proved his fearless and ongoing approach to getting inside a tortured character's head and visually illustrating its contents, as well as which stories are worth translating cinematically. The New York Times fittingly described this film as Scorsese's "something else."
Shutter Island wasn't groundbreaking, but it wasn't disappointing either. It held my attention, looked amazing, and showed aspects of Scorsese's daring side. He had made psychological horrors before, but not like this one. This film had a beautiful ugliness that few are capable of orchestrating on this scale. Music never takes a backseat in his films, and this film particularly relied on sound to envelope audiences, using works by masters of sonic invention like John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, and others, favoring dissonance over harmony. Shutter also proved his fearless and ongoing approach to getting inside a tortured character's head and visually illustrating its contents, as well as which stories are worth translating cinematically. The New York Times fittingly described this film as Scorsese's "something else."
But what has really restored my faith in Martin Scorsese's directorial genius and good taste is his current line-up of films that are in pre-production: an untitled George Harrison documentary (a film about the most overlooked but possibly most complicated and interesting Beatle), The Invention of Hugo Cabret (based on Brian Selznick's brilliantly crafted cinema-meets-Georges-Mélies-meets-graphic-novel), and Sinatra (no description necessary).
There will never be another Mean Streets, but there will be more journeys into the complicated mind and behavior of well developed characters and real people, carefully constructed snapshots of a certain time and place, and the creation of visually inventive experiences for audiences.
Martin Scorsese is back.
There will never be another Mean Streets, but there will be more journeys into the complicated mind and behavior of well developed characters and real people, carefully constructed snapshots of a certain time and place, and the creation of visually inventive experiences for audiences.
Martin Scorsese is back.
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