Sunday, February 21, 2010

Shutter yo mouth, I'm talking about Scorsese

Shutter Island. Scorsese's newest release. Saw it. Dug it. Wanna talk about it.
Basically it's Cape Fear meets The Last Temptation of Christ. It's like action-action-action-trippy dreams, and creepy vibes. It was cool. I went into it expecting to love it, and I did. It had a very cool film noir, surrealist aesthetic which I think we can all agree is awesome. It felt claustrophobic at times, nice use of that "we're trapped on an island" device. Of all the cinematographers I love I'm pretty sure I could pick out Rob Richardson in a test. He's not my favorite but I like him a lot and for me, he's the most distinct in terms of recycling style. And not in a bad way. My friend Darcy is probably going to cry because I saw it without him which is why I've planned to go again on Friday. Second viewing would be wise.
One thing I will say (and I'll avoid any spoilers) is that right until the very last moment of the film I wasn't sure which way it was going to go. It wasn't as if I showed up to a movie expecting one thing, and in a revealing and cinematic twist didn't get it. Up until the very last moment everything could have realistically gone to one extreme or the other.

Bottom line: If Scorsese wants to dish out the mindf*cks, I'll throw him back a post-coital high five.


2 comments:

  1. You're right. You made me cry. But at least you made the effort to see it with me first. I knew I should have gotten tickets earlier. :(

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  2. SPOILERS

    Ive just seen this film for the second time. I can safely say that it is in my top 3 Scorsese films. The experience of seeing it for the second time knowing how it all plays out was something I rarely feel this excited about. From the very first shot of the film clues were dished out directing viewers to the very reveal that I failed to pick up on teh first time.
    Dicaprio being handed pills in a little paper cup by the doctor, his saying that he has seen the electric barbed wire fence before, the doctors resistance to allowing him to view private patient records- all signs that he isn't in fact a marshall, but rather a patient in a home for the criminally insane.
    there is a scene in which the shutter island warden's men are all "searching" for the missing woman Dicaprio has been commissioned to find. Only they are not searching, they are all sitting around on the rocks. There's no one to search for.
    Dicaprio hears voices and sees ghosts throughout the whole film and yet it doesn't seen to occur to audiences that he is actually crazy, the 67th patient. His paranoia becomes the audiences suspicion of the men who appear to be stonewalling him.
    This post is so unorganized but I can't help it- I'm on a roll. At the begining his "partner" is asked to surreder his firearm and hands it over only after struggling to release the holster from his pant. Knowing he is not a cop on the sceond viewing makes it SO obvious. Dicaprio being told by inmates that everything he is seeing is set up to appease him- that he a rat in a maze- seems like such an obvious give away when you know that this is actually the case.

    I freaken love this film. I can't get it off my mind and that's why I love Scorsese. The last time a film got under my skin this much was Mulholland Drive which I thought I hated- but then couldnt shake for weeks!

    Shutter Island could so easily have turned out to be a director-for-hire piece but it blew me away. i dig. I dig.

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