With COVIDtine lasting who-knows-how-long, I figured now was a good time to get to my backlog. I’ve already cleaned my basement and gotten more use of my Twitch account, but I guess it was inevitable that I sit down and watch one of the most-hyped movies of last year: The Irishman. I was initially hesitant for two reasons: 1. It’s extremely long. 2. I’m divided on Martin Scorsese’s filmography. Still, better now than never!
Since I don’t have much to say about the movie-it was okay-perhaps I’ll elaborate on that second point: Scorsese got into hot water last year over his remarks on Marvel movies. I’ve already said my two cents on the matter, but the timing of The Irishman’s release couldn’t have been poorer-timed with this fiasco. I say that not only because it’s unfair to both Scorsese and The MCU, but also because I feel guilty for having thoughts on Scorsese’s body of work. And I do. Though, sadly, they’re not exactly positive.
Now, I don’t think Scorsese’s films are bad. I happen to really like Hugo, considering it one of the best movies of 2011. Scorsese doesn’t make “bad” movies, but even at the best of times he doesn’t inspire me. I don’t connect with his oeuvre because his characters don’t resonate with me. And that’s disappointing for such a prolific master of cinema.
Take Taxi Driver. Containing one of film’s most-famous moments, it follows a Vietnam veteran who drives taxis and is a bit of a loner. The film’s premise is that the world around Travis Bickle’s so broken and corrupt that it turns him into a sociopath, but nothing really screams that. Travis doesn’t snap so much as go into “hero mode” to save some underaged prostitutes from an abusive pimp, and while I’m expected to “believe” that “he’s going mad”, between the bad acting, choppy direction and stale voiceover work, I’m unconvinced. It says a lot when Joker, a cheap knock-off that I despised, manages to out-Taxi Driver Taxi Driver, as at least I bought Arthur Fleck’s descent into madness.
Next we have Goodfellas. The peak of Scorsese’s “house style”, Goodfellas also does it the best. But it still falls short of what it could’ve been. Like Taxi Driver, you’re not supposed to “like” Henry Hill, but I don’t even care enough to despise him. I actually find him grating, and not in a good way. I also find the voiceover narration to be hit-or-miss, and many of scenes drag on for too long. Even the ending, while clever, feels anticlimactic.
Moving on to the film that won Scorsese the Oscar, The Departed left next-to-no impact on me outside of its excessive use of bigoted language. The film’s a cat-and-mouse game with supposed ambiguity, but I find that it meanders and is really simplistic. By the time the story picks up with that phone scene, I was checked out. At least the last shot is great, though by then I was waiting for the film to put itself out of its misery.
Then we get to The Wolf of Wall Street. The second film of Scorsese’s that I saw in theatres, I can’t really say much other than that it was okay. Not bad, not great, but okay. It had excellent acting, voiceover and jokes, and its closing scene is brilliant, but it’s way too long and feels tiring. That makes sense for a film about excess, but it doesn’t really capitalize on its point: am I supposed to like, hate, or be indifferent to these morons? American Hustle somehow pulled off that balance while also having a focused narrative.
Which leads me to The Irishman. For something so heavily-touted as being “masterful”, I wasn’t impressed. I could nitpick it forever: its de-aging technology doesn’t really work. It’s way too long. Anna Paquin is criminally-underused. Its death count rarely matters, with most of its characters dying off-screen. It only comes together in the last 30 minutes, leaving 3 hours with an uncertain build up. And its big “twist”, who the protagonist is relaying his story to, is never revealed. It might be a miracle that this film made it to Netflix, but for something so high-profile it doesn’t resonate with me.
I think this can said of Scorsese as a whole: he doesn’t grab me. Talented director though he is, he never grabs me enough to love his schtick. Perhaps that’s why Hugo stood out: it deviates so heavily from the director’s style that it feels unique. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I’d sooner re-watch that than the aforementioned films.
Maybe I’m being overly-harsh. Maybe I’m “not getting” why he’s a master of cinema. But chalking it up to ignorance, especially given my complaints, is dishonest. Like I said, Martin Scorsese doesn’t make bad movies. Even at his most-forgettable, I still appreciate his attempts at innovating film. He also seems like a lovely guy, which isn’t something I can say for many other directors. But I guess he’s not for me, and that’s okay.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts (Monthly)
-
Korrasami sucks, everyone. Honestly, I was debating how to start this one off: do I go for the verbose “Korra and Asami is a terrible f...
-
Is the book always better? This is a debate that’s been going on for a long time. So long, in fact, that you probably don’t remember its ori...
-
There’s plenty I can say about Agatha All Along . Like how it made me care for an antiheroine who murders other witches. Or how, despite bei...
-
It’s been rather rough this week. On Tuesday night, I spent the evening watching the American election results in real time. Despite not ant...
-
Movies have a weird effect on me the second time around. Sometimes I like them more, having gotten over the initial reaction and moved to a ...
-
Another year gone, another year of reflection. Politics wise, it was the year of Donald Trump’s presidential hopefulness, Justin Trudeau ove...
-
I’ve been mixed on writing this for some time. I’ve wanted to on many occasions for 7 years, namely in response to the endlessly tiresome ra...
-
One of the annoyances about The Acolyte ’s cancellation is that the show wasn’t afraid to venture into new territory. For one, it came befo...
-
( Warning: This piece discuss some heavy subject matter. Read at your own risk.) There are many statements I can make about Fox News: they...
-
Internet, it’s time we had a little talk. *Grabs the collective body by the ear and drags it to a private space* This is Frozen . I’m s...
Popular Posts (General)
-
Korrasami sucks, everyone. Honestly, I was debating how to start this one off: do I go for the verbose “Korra and Asami is a terrible f...
-
( Note: The following conversation, save for formatting and occasional syntax, remains unedited. It’s also laden with spoilers. Read at you...
-
It was inevitable that the other shoe would drop, right? This past month has been incredibly trying . On October 7th, Hamas operatives infi...
-
I recently watched a YouTube video deconstructing Howl’s Moving Castle . Specifically, it drew on The Iraq War parallels and how they held ...
-
(Part 1 can be found here .) (Part 2 can be found here .) At E3 2005, Nintendo announced their latest console . Dubbed “The Nintendo ...
-
Ableism’s an unusual kind of bigotry. It’s prevalent in how we communicate, and it shapes how we live our lives. The biggest offenders on a ...
-
On March 3rd, 2009, Warner Bros.’s animation division released an original, direct-to-video feature about comics’ prized superheroine, title...
-
I’ve been mixed on writing this for some time. I’ve wanted to on many occasions for 7 years, namely in response to the endlessly tiresome ra...
-
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and I have a weird relationship. I’ve seen plenty of Batman films, being a huge fan of the character, but none...
-
This week marks the third in a period of the Jewish calendar called " The Omer ". That was one of the hardest sentences that ...
No comments:
Post a Comment