Whatever happened to Martin Scorsese? It's a question I find myself asking more and more but especially as I was watching Shutter Island.
I have no real objections to the film apart from the fact that the big twist is pretty obvious from fairly early on. With that in mind I probably spent more time than I ought to have just watching Scorsese going about his business while waiting for my suspicion of the twist to be confirmed. This is Scorsese in homage mode, varying between nods to favourite directors such as Hitchcock and Samuel Fuller; there's more than a hint of Vertigo in Scorsese's shot selection and colour palette. There's also more than a hint of Sam Fuller in some of the mental institution sequences. Fuller's Shock Corridor is a favourite of Scorsese and he seems to be intent on capturing the energy and vibrancy that were the trademarks of Fuller's best work. And of course in terms of his own work there are strong suggestions that we are in Cape Fear territory here.
Cape Fear of course is a remake and as a noted cineaste we would not grudge Scorsese his right to take his own pass at favoured subjects. He has also referenced his own work in the past, after all what was Bringing Out the Dead but Taxi Driver with ambulances. But taken as a whole I get the impression that Scorsese is more of a follower than a leader these days. Lately he has been spinning his wheels on a selection of work that while entertaining surely cannot represent him at the peak of his powers. I include in that The Departed - another remake incidentally - which is one of those Oscar winners that actually diminishes each time you see it. There is no doubt that Scorsese is an Oscar worthy director but he should have had his statuette a long time ago and anyone considering The Departed as worthy of one of the finest directors of his generation would get an entirely false impression of his work.
Now it has been announced that Scorsese's next film will be The Invention of Hugo Cabret, a children's movie made in 3D. It is evidently the story of a 12-year-old boy in 1930s Paris who lives in a train station and solves the mystery of a broken robot! A Scorsese subject if ever I heard one. The film starts shooting shortly and will be out at the end of next year, pushing aside all those interesting Scorsese projects like his long-promised Sinatra movie or his documentary on Elia Kazan.
No one would deny a great director - and Scorsese is still a great director - the opportunity to experiment and since 3D seems to be here to stay he would obviously be inclined to explore its possibilities. At least we know this will be a 'real 3D' movie and not a conversion. But more and more he seems to be chasing box office. There are fewer and fewer of the intensely personal character studies on which he made his name. His trademark themes of sin and redemption have long been left behind.
In his younger days Scorsese showed a finished cut of Mean Streets to a Catholic priest whose opinions he valued. The verdict was simple but effective - "Too much Good Friday and not enough Easter Sunday", said the priest.
We've had a lot of Good Friday from Scorsese's career choices recently; is it too much to hope for Easter Sunday someday soon?
