You talkin' to me? (The Scorsese Picture - David Ehrenstein)

Member Name: TJ-Mackey

Product:	The Scorsese Picture - David Ehrenstein
Date:	21/09/01 (182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting and insightful

Disadvantages: Not a lot of detail

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes the Academy has ever made is to never award Martin Scorsese with an Oscar. I was amazed to learn he had never won, despite directing such excellent films as 'Goodfellas' and 'Taxi Driver'. Despite this apparent lack of recognition, it's still clear from his movies that Scorsese is one of the greatest directors in the history of film. 'The Scorsese Picture' makes use of both the visual and descriptive mediums to examine the content and methods behind this fine director's movies.

The book was written in 1992, shortly after the release of 'Cape Fear', and attempts to detail the director's career up to that point, through stories from Scorsese himself, quotes from his colleagues, and photographs from his films and private collection. While certainly providing an insight into the mind of this most exciting of directors, the book always seems lacking in the kind of detail you'd expect from a complete biography, and definitely concentrates more on the visual side of Scorsese's filmmaking. Some of the photographs are undoubtedly of interest, as well as several press clippings and communications, but it can also be argued that some are not really needed. 'The Scorsese Picture' has much to offer, and is well worth a read, especially for fans, but it is far from definitive.

Before he first became involved in filmmaking, Scorsese nearly joined the priesthood and took up religion as his career. Deciding against this though, he instead enrolled in a film course at New York University, a city that would later be the setting for many of his movies. However, he didn't abandon his earlier career choice entirely; his religious experiences can clearly be seen in many of his movies, most notably 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and 'Mean Streets', where there are very strong religious themes running through the stories. David Ehrenstein touches on t
hese influences in the first chapter of the book, and also includes revealing comments from Scorsese on his family, early religious experiences and his first introduction to the world of film. Stills from the influential movies he saw at this time, and photos from his early film projects, can also be found in this section.

Inspired by such classics as 'Duel in the Sun' and 'Force of Evil', Scorsese's first big breakthrough as a director was in 1973, with the release of the now-classic crime movie 'Mean Streets'. This was the first of many collaborations with Robert De Niro, who is now regarded as one of the best actors of his generation. He would later appear in seven more Scorsese films (and is currently working on an eighth - 'Gangs of New York'). For me, his best performance came in the 1980 film 'Raging Bull', playing the violent and paranoid heavyweight boxer Jake La Motta, a role which won him the Best Actor Oscar that year. Despite playing an unlikeable character, I feel this is one of the strongest performances I've ever seen, and really emphasises why 'Raging Bull' is considered by many to be the best film of the eighties. In my opinion, it is Scorsese's best and most interesting film to date.

A selection of quotes and comments from the time of that film's release provides a slightly different viewpoint. By essentially breaking the rules of commercial filmmaking, Scorsese drew strong criticism for his unflinching depiction of La Motta, which makes no attempt to justify his actions. Ehrenstein provides analysis of 'Raging Bull', comparing it both with the cliché-ridden 'Rocky' and the classic 'On the Waterfront', as well as showing the importance of several individual scenes. Highlighted prominently is Scorsese's desire to provoke the audience with morally ambiguous characters, not only in 'Raging Bull' but also in many of his other pictures.
From Travis Bickle to Henry Hill to Rupert Pupkin, none of these characters are likeable, yet all are captivating.

In fact, the majority of Martin Scorsese's films concentrate on a flawed central character who is often battling against personal demons, whether this be a self-destructive personality, extreme paranoia, over-possessiveness, or violent (sometimes psychotic) tendencies. Because of this tendency to dwell on interesting and complex characters, it is no surprise that the actors in Scorsese's movies frequently get nominated and win awards for their outstanding performances. Images of Robert De Niro in particular are prevalent throughout the book, and the importance of his relationship with Scorsese is also emphasised.

This isn't to say Scorsese's films are only excellent in respect to the acting though. They are always technically brilliant, whether this is through the editing (often by frequent collaborator and Oscar-winner Thelma Schoonmaker) or the distinctive cinematography and camerawork. You only have to watch the now famous steadicam scene from 'Goodfellas' or the in-your-face boxing sequences from 'Raging Bull' to see examples of this in action.

Early on in the book, Scorsese's technical style is shown to have developed early on. In his first movie, 'Who's That Knocking at My Door?', he employed a zoom-and-pan technique that can also be seen in many of his later films. This method of following a character's point of view was clearly very effective, and later led to more ambitious approaches to camerawork. He is quoted in the book as saying "all the arts culminate in film", and it would be difficult to argue against him. Lighting, sound, camerawork, music, and the way the actors relate to all of these things, are important to the look and feel of the finished product. Most interesting is his comments on 'The King of Comedy', in which camera movement is ke
pt to a minimum, and editing, especially in a reverse angle conversation scene, becomes even more crucial.

The last chapter of the book sees Ehrenstein focus on the post-production of 'Cape Fear', as Scorsese and Schoonmaker put together the climatic final scene whilst discussing the finer points of editing. From the conversations here it's clear why the two have worked together for much of their careers, as they both have differing, but equally valid ideas on the best way of showing something. However, this chapter does get a little confusing without seeing the context of the scenes they are talking about, and hence a good knowledge of the film would be beneficial (I haven't seen it in a few years).

As I mentioned earlier, currently in production is the movie 'Gangs of New York', which will star Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, and will hopefully be a return to form for Scorsese. Unsurprisingly, the setting is again New York City, this time in the nineteenth century when there was huge conflict between the American residents of the city and the recently arriving Italian immigrants.

At the end of the book, a complete and detailed Scorsese filmography (up to and including 'The Age of Innocence') is provided, along with details of upcoming projects. It's interesting to note the presence of 'Gangs of New York' as far back as 1992, likely to be more than ten years before the film is finally released. Throughout 'The Scorsese Picture', there are a great number of photographs, portions of scripts, dailies, shooting schedules, notes and publicity materials. As noted earlier, not all of these make for fascinating viewing, but many are very interesting to look at - providing a further understanding of the filmmaking process, and the way Scorsese interprets it.

Probably the best way to sum up Martin Scorsese, and the reason for the power behind his movies, is in his own words:
r>"I learn more in a movie or a story when I see what a person does wrong and what happens to them because of that. It's also more interesting when they go about doing bad things, as antagonists. It's like a catharsis."