For Adam, Grove, and Hayes.
It is a great day for a film-lover when he gets the chance to see and then discuss a new Martin Scorsese film. This is especially true when that lover of cinema is as big a fan of Scorsese as I am. Considered by many within the industry as a one of the greatest American film directors of all time (I raise my hand in enthusiastic agreement), Martin Scorsese releasing a new movie is almost of itself an historical event. For me, it is without a doubt reason enough to leave the comfort and preferred movie-viewing setting of my home theater, and venture out to the multiplexes on an opening weekend.
To paraphrase Roger Ebert, the best Scorsese films are not great because of what they are about. They are great because of how they are about what they are about. Martin Scorsese is an unparalleled master of vision and style, who, for the past forty-plus years has used his innumerable skills to tell stories that unveil the vast complications that drive men to do what they do. And during each of those four decades, he created a film that I am not at all alone in regarding a masterpiece. In 1976, we were given Taxi Driver. In 1980, it was the powerful Raging Bull. 1990 saw the arrival of Scorsese’s best film to date, Goodfellas. And in 2006, The Departed brought the director his long overdue Academy Award.
Martin Scorsese is the antithesis to the pedestrian director. When watching one of his movies, you can see that every scene was set up and filmed with an exacting purpose. There is a reason behind each angle shot; the length of time between cuts; how close up to an actor’s face the camera is placed. Every decision he makes is made in the spirit of purest creativity and a supreme enthusiasm for the medium of film and its ability to tell a story. And because he approaches each new project with the eagerness of a first-timer and the passion of an old pro, every Martin Scorsese movie is a film-lover’s pleasure to see at least once.
For his newest opus, Scorsese has filmed the third successful adaptation (following Clint Eastwood's Mystic River and Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone) of a Dennis Lehane novel. Shutter Island is not great Scorsese, but it is very good Scorsese. The difference between great Scorsese and good Scorsese is a meticulous attention to character versus a strict adherence to an easily discernible plot. All of Scorsese’s great films favor the former over the latter. That is not the case with Shutter Island, a dark and mysterious tale of a federal marshal, who ventures to a remote island insane asylum to search for a patient who has inexplicably vanished. A throwback to the old John Huston film noirs and Alfred Hitchcock thrillers of the 40’s and 50’s, Shutter Island is Scorsese’s tribute, and he is clearly having a lot of fun showing what he learned from his predecessors.
To give away any of the plot, however, would completely spoil your experience watching it and discovering the film’s multitude of surprises, red herrings, and twists all for yourself. Suffice it to say that absolutely nothing is as it seems. Leonardo DiCaprio, in his fourth collaboration with Scorsese, gives a terrific performance as the lead marshal investigating the case; a man whose loosening grip on reality greatly affects the way we the viewers observe key events throughout the story. Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, and the awesome Max von Sydow are all excellent in supporting roles.
Watching this movie is one hell of a good time. And Scorsese’s touch throughout raises the bar considerably on the quality of the final vision. It is my hope, however, that for his next film, Scorsese returns to the brilliant character studies of his greatest works. He has just entered his fifth decade as a film director. Another masterpiece is surely on the way.
Until next week, here is my hope that we all find our Shangri-La.
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