There was a long feature on Martin Scorsese, who has a new thriller/horror movie coming out, in the Times last weekend:
It’s hard not to suspect, as you listen to him discoursing with a certain relish about the technical problems of the film and the rigors of shooting in a mental hospital — “It’s not a good feeling, being there every day” — that he has come to a point in his career where he actually thrives on difficulty, almost can’t do without it. Mr. DiCaprio described the process of working out the nuances of Teddy’s character as “pretty intense, because I didn’t really understand how emotionally complex this character is until Marty and I started breaking down this cathartic journey he goes on.” He paused and added: “When you’re working with someone like Martin Scorsese, you know you’re going to have to go places emotionally that you didn’t ever foresee.”
For Mr. Scorsese that’s entertainment. Some filmmakers as they grow older begin to pare down their styles, to produce mellow, autumnal works that attempt to express with serene simplicity the accrued wisdom of their lives. Does that sound like Martin Scorsese? His movies have always been fueled by nervous energy and huge uprushes of adrenaline, and it’s nearly impossible to imagine him doing without some kind of emotional turbulence, even if he has to induce it by sheer force of will.
I love to hear Scorsese talk–he’s a great New Yorker. And for a long time he was my favorite filmmaker. But I haven’t enjoyed the movies he’s made since Good Fellas. I appreciate that he’s still busy making movies, even if they don’t speak to me anymore. He’s an Institution now, I get it, and that’s cool, but I find that he’s become such a polished stylist that his technique gets in the way of the storytelling. He’s got technique for days, and he is a master, but his stories just don’t speak to me anymore.
Have you seen the preview for his latest? We’re in Cape Fear territory. I wonder if he’ll ever make an interesting movie again. John Huston kept making good movies for a long time, so I haven’t given up hope. Then again, I’m not holding my breath.
Ah, but Alex, you're going way too easily on Huston. His career was dead in the water for pretty much the entirety of the 60s - that's why he started acting more often. Yes, he recovered and made some terrific stuff in the 70s and 80s, but he was seriously out of favor for a long time (pretty much from The Misfits until Fat City).
As for Scorsese, go back and look again. Oddly enough, I just watched The Aviator again for the first time since its theatrical release and I liked it much more the 2nd time around. It's not just technique - this is large scale filmmaking, but clearly deeply personal. His movies still have his fingerprints all over them, and emotional ones too, not merely his style.
Maybe the style is getting in the way of the substance for you, and that's why I recommend a second look. Don't get me wrong, he's made a few I didn't care for (Cape Fear struck me as phony, but it was an interesting homage to 60s Hitchcock). However, I do find it hard to fathom that you don't find his recent work "interesting." Even when his movies don't work, they're always interesting.
he's my all-time favorite, so I'm definitely biased...but I definitely think he's been making consistently interesting work over the past 20 years.
I won't say that Casino is on par with Mean Streets or Goodfellas, but I think its a work of art (in a Grand Guginol-kinda way). The Aviator is criminally underrated, and I think The Departed is a dime-store story elevated to something greater on the strength of its performances. I personally loved Gangs of New York, but that is more in noble-failure territory (i.e. Once Upon A Time in America).
He's definitely had his failures (Kundun, Bringing Out The Dead)...but at least he's never dull or unoriginal.
I too personally love it, and I think Gangs of New York is a near-miss that will live on for two good reasons: 1) that amazing set and 2) Daniel Day-Lewis. I really didn't care for DiCaprio in it, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how good I thought he was in both The Aviator and The Departed (and Speilberg's Catch Me If You Can).
Scorsese's got a Sinatra movie in the works, and a George Harrison documentary. I'm looking forward to those, and I'll even cop to renting Shutter Island at some point.
I'm more excited for Shutter Island after a comment a friend made to me: "Reminds me of Shock Corridor." Of course.
Also, I loved loved loved his Bob Dylan documentary.
I didn't see the Dylan movie. I thought the Aviator was watchable, same for The Departed and Casino, but they just left me cold. Perhaps I am being unfair--and Matt that's a great point about Huston, he just happened to comeback and close his career on a high note--but that's because Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, ItalianAmerican, and even Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Last Waltz, and Raging Bull were so strong. I even liked his corny Color of Money, and loved the little movie he did for New York Stories.
I'm not greedy. I don't nkow that you can expect too much more. But when he talks about not being able to make straight genre movies, how they always get more complicated, I'm like "Stroke me, dude." That's just an ego trip. He may think it runs deeper than that, but they are genre movies, man. Nothing to be ashamed in that, but that doesn't make it angst-ridden or important.
And I don't think he has his finger on the pulse of pop culture like he did in the 70s. Again, that's not his fault--how many of his contemporaries do?--but I think there was far more emotional truth in his earlier work. Now, it is borderline slick.
Casino was like Scorsese and DeNiro's Rat Pack movie and The Departed felt like the After School Special version of Scorsese, with the fresh-faced young guys getting to act grown and swear and curse and kill like their heroes.
I agree that he hasn't made a great film since Goodfellas, but I've enjoyed the heck out of the ones he has made. Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed all had their flaws, but each one was a lot of fun. And I have to admit that I've now seen The Departed more times than any of his other films. I get caught up in it every time it's on. I realize it is what it is, but I just get a kick out of all the performances and the dialogue.
[6] dude, I hear ya, but Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner is greater than, or at least equal to emotional truth, no?
Man, that Ava Gardner must have been a handful. Yeah, Beckinsale was good in that.
[8] I think The Aviator is a great film. I wasn't sure back when it came out, but now I feel pretty strongly about it. It's the best post-Goodfellas movie he's made, in my opinion - the most inspired and fully-formed.
[6] Couldn't disagree more, Alex. It pretty clearly runs deeper than that - not that they have some sort of import (what, ya want the guy to make Stanley Kramer movies?), but that they all speak to his personality. Scorsese's genre films are still distinctly *his* - which is true of genre films made by any great director. I mean, Huston's "Asphalt Jungle" is a genre film, but when you look at the breadth of Huston's career, it's very much a John Huston film, too. That stuff just pours out, many times subconsciously. You know - why did John Ford put the camera *there*? Even he can't say, but no one else would have, dig?
I think you are right, they are distinctly "his." But not in a way that I think is appealing or intersting.
I'm definitely in the "Raised Bar" camp, ie he had such strong movies to start his career it seems unfair to always hold him to that standard. I've enjoyed most of his latter-day films though they do lack a certain verve for the most part.
Certainly in terms of type of movie he makes, I'd like him to do whatever moves him; I think there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing a thriller - or Cape Fear territory as Alex puts it. In fact I like Cape Fear a lot for what it is. If you're looking for something with more meat on its bones then you won't find it, but there's a place for those kind of roller-coaster ride movies, and I'd rather see Scorese's version than that of the usual hacks.
I think the worst part of The Departed was Jack Nicholson. That and the fact that it's a remake of a really recent movie.
[12] Fair enough - de gustibus non est disputandum and all that, ya know?
When DeNiro enters the bar in Mean Streets in slo-mo to "Jumping Jack Flash" - coolest. entance. ever.
1) I agree, that is a classic. With the slow motion and the red light, it is the perfect song for the perfect storm that is Johnny Boy too so it's not just cool slow mo and cool song for its own sake, it really works contextually too.
I once saw Greg Maddux pitch in Atlanta. I was really psyched cause Maddux was my favorite pitcher at the time. He lost. He threw 8 innings, gave up a couple of runs and struck out 4 or 5 guys. The fact that Schilling threw a complete game and gave up one run led to the loss. But I was so disappointed...I felt ripped off.
Comparing any movie Scorsese does to Raging Bull or Goodfellas is patently unfair. I think any movie critic worth his salt would place Raging Bull in the top 10 of all movies ever made. (It is #2 on my list after Lawrence of Arabia). Goodfellas would probably be anywhere from the top 25 to top 100 best movies of all time.
Casino was a solid movie- I think it doesn't get the credit it deserves because everyone thinks it is Godfellas II. Gangs of New York would have been better if there was no Cameron Diaz (horrible actress) and DiCaprio would stop with that horrible accent. Until the Aviator I really hated Leo and I had an idea for a film- it just involved Leo getting the crap beat out of him. Thankfully BIll the Butcher did that for me.
The Aviator was very good but it could have been a great movie if the actual flying scenes were more realistic. Why don't they use models anymore? This computer generated stuff sucks- watch the flying scenes from THe Right Stuff and compare them to the Aviator. The film made 20+ years earlier has much better flying scenes.
The Departed was an excellent film- I haven't seen the original, so I can't compare. I would say that Jack both helps the film and hurts it. At times his over the topness (is that a word?) fits it to a tee...at other times it distracts.
Scorsese is still better than anyone in meshing music with film. Favorite scene from The Departed is Leo getting his broken arm pounded while "Let it Loose" plays on the juke box.
Oh- in case you didn't get it- the point about Maddux- he pitched a pretty good game. But he was mortal the day I saw him. Scorsese is mortal too.