I learned an important lesson tonight: trust my instincts. Several years ago I tried to watch "Taxi Driver," but I stopped about halfway in because it was boring and offensive. Recently, I had heard good things about it, so I watched it again. Long story short, I was right the first time. Here's my verdict on the film. It's frickin' weird. The only redeeming value is the "Are you talkin' to me?" scene in front of the mirror.
Second lesson: never watch Martin Scorsese films (with the exception of the Bob Dylan documentary). Basically, his M.O. is to make movies that shock people. I remember liking "Goodfellas" when I saw it many years ago, but I have a feeling I wouldn't like it again. I don't think I'll ever see "The Departed." I mean, putting Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio together was a good idea because . . .
Martin Scorsese, you are now officially dead to me.
CLARIFICATION
Upon further reflection, I've decided that Scorsese is not completely dead to me. I had forgotten that he did Kundun and Raging Bull (as well as the Dylan documentary), so he is capable of making good films. He does, however, have a group of films that trouble me, including Taxi Driver, Casino, and The Departed, not to mention the fact that he seems to enjoy working with Leonardo DeCaprio (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed). Taken as a whole, I don't think I like his work, but I should recognize here that there are some good films in there, too.
2 comments:
Wow, that's a strong stance. I think you should see 'The Departed.' It's not the most memorable piece of cinema, but it works.
Yeah, it was a pretty strong position to take. I had just finished watching Taxi Driver, which was a huge disappointment to me. I just looked Scorsese up on the IMDB, and I had forgotten that he did Kundun and Raging Bull. So it looks like I shouldn't have written him off entirely.
The Departed doesn't interest me, though. I used to really enjoy that sort of film (I loved Goodfellas when I saw it), but as I learned with Taxi Driver last night, I'm just not into weird, depressing films anymore.
I think part of the problem with Taxi Driver in particular is that it came out in 1976. I've seen a lot of 1970s films, and I like very few of them (I really like Rocky and The French Connection). For some reason, that decade had this weird estetic about it. They made a lot of depressing movies.
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