Review: SHUTTER ISLAND / Martin Scorsese (2010)
February 20th, 2010 by Scott Marks
Shutter Island (2010)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Laeta Kalogridis from a novel by Dennis Lehane
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Ma von Sydow
Photographed by Robert Richardson in
Running Time: 138 min.
Rating: 
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
Most directors start their career with genre pictures as Marty did with the ultra-low budget, Roger Corman-school “Boxcar Bertha.” After screening the picture for mentor John Cassavetes, the Hollywood maverick looked into Marty’s soul, told him that he just wasted a year of his life and asked, “Don’t you have something of your own that you want to do?”
That something became “Mean Streets.” For nearly three decades, Scorsese has followed Cassavetes’ advice to the letter, give or take “Cape Fear” and a certain Oscar winner. During the press junket for “Gangs of New York” Scorsese announced, “I’ve made all the pictures that I originally set out to make.” Over the years, Marty has told numerous interviewers that he wanted to be a Hollywood genre director, but his temperament led him down a road less followed.
After “Gangs” he has finally gotten around to giving us his take on traditional genre pictures. “The Aviator” is an efficient, straight-forward Hollywood biopic that utilizes new technology to tell an old story. “The Departed” is an old fashioned Sidney Lumet cop picture/Academy guilt trip. Even better than both of them combined, “Shutter Island” is Marty’s Hitchcock thriller with equal doses of Sam Fuller and Val Lewton thrown in to fill out a satisfying Sunday matinee.
The idea had been growing in Marty’s head for quite some time. During the preparation of “Shutter Island” Scorsese produced and narrated “Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows” a documentary about the revered 1940’s ‘B’ noir horror producer. “Bedlam,” the last picture in his nine noir cycle at RKO, takes place in London’s legendary insane asylum. The original title of Scorsese’s film (“Ashecliffe”) indicated that it might be patterned after the Lewton classic.
With its cramped, dankly lit interiors much of the look of Scorsese’s fever dream can be traced back to Lewton. At its thematic core the film owes more to Hitchcock’s deeply personal self-portrait” Vertigo” and Sam Fuller’s “Shock Corridor.” (In the latter a newspaper reporter checks into a mental hospital to solve a story and winds up more insane than any of its inhabitants.)
There is nothing quite so much fun as the act of being fooled. Marty hoodwinked me 110% of the way. I should have caught on the second I saw the digital recreations of 50s matte shots during Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule’s (Mark Ruffalo) boat trip to the island. The stylistic application of intentional artifice should have been an instant tip off that what we were looking at wasn’t meant to be believed. There was also something not right about Chuck’s over-familiar use of “boss” each time he addressed his new partner. And after the tenth time, Teddy’s forceful boasts that he’s a U.S. Marshal begin to sound like he was trying to convince himself of the fact.
Teddy hits shore already agitated and feeling overly aggressive. He came to the right place. “Shutter Island” houses an elite group of America’s most dangerous and damaged patients perfectly distilled in a 1954 microcosm that also reflects current societal fears.
All of the film’s establishing shots are perfectly balanced and composed, but the music signals that this will soon change. An aerial shot on the island, a skillful homage to “Night of the Hunter,” immediately pulls us into the action. Teddy and Chuck are there to investigate the disappearance of a female patient Rachel 1 (Emily Mortimer) who murdered her three children. As the crime drama unfolds we are treated to a series of flashbacks revealing Teddy’s backstory concerning his late wife Dolores (Michelle Williams) and his military experience liberating Dachau.
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Tags: dennis lehane, Film Review, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorcese, Martin Scorsese, Movie Review, shutter islandFiled Under Rants
Scorsese and DeNiro to remake “Taxi Driver”?!?!?
February 15th, 2010 by Scott Marks
All the Danish animals come out at night. While he’s no Bertrand Russell, Lars Von Trier has got some bad ideas.
No sooner does word arrive that there is talk of Scorsese and DeNiro reuniting on a new gangster film, than this bit of violent insanity crosses my desk.
Danish director Lars Von Trier has challenged Marty and Bob to do a remake of “Taxi Driver” with DeNiro once again starring as Travis Bickle. Where do you get your balls big enough to challenge Marty to one of your pissing contests? If Von Trier has his way Bjork will play Iris.
Sick. Venal.
After spending far too much time researching this story, Earth Times reports that the news first broke in the Copenhagen film magazine Ekko. It’s hard to take a site seriously when they misspell His name, but I won’t kill the messenger. It’s Von Trier’s motives that I question.
Von Tirer is no stranger to this form of cinematic masturbation. According to Variety, “The idea behind the project is similar to the film ‘The Five Obstructions’ that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier challenged his colleague Leth to do a remake of his own 1967 film ‘The Perfect Human.’ Von Trier gave Leth the task of remaking five times, each time with a different obstacle, such as making the film animated, given by von Trier.”
Hey, Lars, suck on this: While I was able to get some shits and giggles out of “Antichrist,” you haven’t made a good film since “Breaking the Waves.” And whatever happened your Dogme 95 manifesto in which the director is not to take credit? Going before the press at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival to proclaim himself the “greatest director in the world” is more pretentious than anything on display in your last four films. You’re a greedy, exploitative whore like the rest of them. Can’t wait for “Eden,” the upcoming video game based on “Antichrist.”
Stay away from him, Marty. He’s the type of man who would do violence in his grandmother’s neighborhood.
As John Schultz pointed out, this is the only officially sanctioned remake of “Taxi Driver”:
Tags: antichrist, Antichrist video game, Bob Hope, Dogme 95, Eden video game, lars von trier, Martin Scorcese, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, SCTV, TAXI DRIVER, TAXI DRIVER remakeFiled Under Rants
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