Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
On DVD at home with Lucía, on 27 November, 2006, at around 20:00.
It’s nice to see this film again after so long. I can’t really sympathize with Henry Hill in any way, but he does appeal to some of my worst sensibilities, which really contributes to the sense of excitement I feel as his character develops. Once it hits the midpoint, the film fills me with dread as I see everything collapse. What I missed the first time around is the motivation behind Henry Hill’s betraying his friends. When I first saw the film, it felt like he was just trying to protect his own interests, but the second time around I got a stronger sense of his own sense of betrayal, as well as the sense that he had realized that the game is only interesting and friends only matter when you’re on your way up, and on the way down it all becomes nothing.
More than anything, however, I wish that the scenes from the 50s wouldn’t come to an end. It is my favorite part of the film, and it’s over so quickly.
(**)
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)
on 35mm at the AMC Bay Street in Emeryville, with Lucía, Sach, and Vincent. 14 October, 2006, at 22:40.
I don’t remember the original film so well, so I can’t really compare them. Matt Damon’s performance was pretty dull, and DiCaprio’s was quite impressive (granted, Damon had the tougher role), but all in all I found the film quite exciting. I did find myself wondering why Scorsese seems to have given up making good films, but I guess if he’s going to be in the business of making bad films, he certainly managed to spit out an excellent one.
That said, after a certain point, once the unravelling plot hit a certain momentum, it stopped making a whole lot of sense for me. What was the logic behind XX being an FBI informant? Also, what was Scorsese trying to show us in making some sort of comparison between Damon’s and DiCaprio’s virility? And what on Earth did the psychiatrist see in Damon’s character? Certainly after their initial round of flirting, we saw nothing but bad signs in their relationship.
Incidentally, Christopher Doyle (cinematographer of the original Infernal Affairs) didn’t seem to like Scorsese’s film much. He expressed his disappointment colorfully. To wit:
I find it disappointing if not depressing to see someone of the integrity and scholarship of Marty:
1) apparently not knowing or caring where the original originates from (which I find insulting to our integrity and efforts…when of all the filmmakers in the world Marty is the one who pretends to celebrate excellence and integrity and vision in cinematography)
2) needing to suck box office, or studio, or whoever’s dick he feels he needs to suck…it can’t be for the money…it can’t be for the film (for the reasons above)…it must be just to work…which is mostly my motivation most of the time…but to have something fall into one’s lap because one is supposedly competent in a certain kind of filmmaking is exactly why we are moving on and accountants are making non-subtitled versions of what we do.
3) it makes me very sad to see Marty and so many others genre-fying and gentrifying himself into mediocrity. Granted, mediocre is not just a Western ailment…but it would seem the disease is malign and endemic.
While I’m not surprised to see Doyle’s disappointment at Scorsese’s adventures in mediocrity, I am surprised that he’s as worked up as he is about the film’s “not knowing or caring where the original originates from.” More specifically, I wonder what Doyle feels the film should have been to indicate Scorsese’s concern for its source. I hope I can find the context for the Doyle quote to see if it has that information.
The good news (thanks, Mandeep!) is that Scorsese has announced his decision to swear off from big-budget filmmaking for a while, and at least give himself a chance of making some interesting films. I have no idea what the results will be like, but if Scorsese is seeking to remake himself with no investors to answer to, I’m more than willing to go along for the ride. That said, his next film, Silence, doesn’t look as promising as all that.
(*)