2020 Blind Spot Series: Casino (1995)

When I sat down to watch Martin Scorsese's Casino I only knew that it was a gangster film and that it is considered by many the filmmaker's finest film. The latter is actually the reason I picked it for my Blind Spot as I was curious to see how it could be better than Goodfellas. Turns out, it kind of it as it's essentially Scorsese's attempt to remake his own Goodfellas and yet it stands out on its own as a refreshing, highly entertaining and fascinating crime film.

The Irishman (2019)

Although the running time genuinely intimidated me — two hours are a lot for me so you can imagine my feelings toward a three hour and a half long film —, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman was on the top of my 2019 watch-list as I appreciate most of the director's work and I was really interested in seeing what he could do with all the freedom Netflix would grant him. And, there's no other way to put it, Scorsese's latest film didn't meet my expectations, it blew them as it is a tremendously enthralling, fascinating, charming, surprisingly funny and yet serious gangster film and easily Scorsese's most involving, engaging film on an emotional level.

Gangs of New York (2002)

I finally watched Lars von Trier's Dogville last week and I loved it, so I figured it was about time to watch another of those movies I've been putting off for years because of its length, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. 

It is set in 1863 when gangs ran the streets of New York and the government couldn't or wouldn't gain control of the city, and it mainly focuses on Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young man whose father (Liam Neeson) was killed sixteen years before by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), the leader of the most powerful gang in New York, and is now seeking revenge. 

The Departed (2006)

Genre

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Director

Martin Scorsese

Country

USA

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale, David O'Hara, Mark Rolston, Kevin Corrigan, John Cenatiempo, Armen Garo, Robert Wahlberg, Kristen Dalton, Conor Donovan

Storyline

In South Boston, the state police force is waging war on Irish American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). While Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit.

Opinion

Remake of the Hong Kong 2002 film Infernal Affairs, The Departed is a brilliant and engaging film, filled with action, suspense and black humour, which offers food for thought on honesty, betrayal, good and evil.

Protagonist of the film is the eternal fight between good and evil, and as happens in real life is not always easy to distinguish one from the other. Actually these two entities are so close that it's almost impossible to see them as two separate notions.

The good, played by Leonardo DiCaprio's Costigan, is dirty outside but clean inside. The evil, on the other side, played by Matt Damon's Sullivan, is capable of living among us well disguised, and knows how to act in the land of lies, and feels at ease.  This is what misleads us, human beings, and the reason why we are fascinated by people like Sullivan, and afraid of people like Costigan. I'd say don't judge a book by its cover, but as my literature teacher always said, "Leave the commonplaces to the mass".

Martin Scorsese has left the bloody, gloomy New York for a bold Boston with a great desire to show off his talent, and he wonderfully succeeded. In fact, with a simple plot and almost two hours and a half to fill, he was able to keep the viewer's interest and to keep up the suspense. There is a but though. Those who know Tarantino, and have seen Reservoir Dogs will find many of their elements. The mole, the betrayal, the impossibility to distinguish good from evil, and the Shakespearean finale where everyone dies. About the ending, it didn't really convince me. It feels forced, with the purpose of pleasing the audience and bringing back balance between good and evil.

Screenwriter William Monahan follows the structure of Infernal Affairs, but added lot of depth to the characters, and put down on paper a better dialogue. 

The acting is first class. Grown up, hefty but still with a baby face,  Leonardo DiCaprio gives a wonderful performance as Billy Costigan. Matt Damon does a great job out of his comfort zone as Sullivan. Devilish Jack Nicholson is huge as usual, and steals the scene, even though he doesn't much in the film. Mark Wahlberg should have had more screen time, but shines between a f**k and another. Great performances also from Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen and Vera Farmiga.

Quotes

Frank Costello: When you decide to be something, you can be it. That's what they don't tell you in the church. When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?

Shutter Island (2010)

Genre

Mystery | Thriller

Director

Martin Scorsese

Country

USA

Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas, Jill Larson, Ken Cheeseman, Ruby Jerins, Robin Bartlett, Christopher Denham, Matthew Cowles

Storyline

In 1954, Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner, Chuck (Mark Ruffalo), travel to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient, Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer). As Teddy quizzes Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), the head of the institution, he begins to suspect that the authorities in charge might not be giving him the whole truth, and that a terrible fate may befall all the patients in the spooky Ward C, a unit devoted to the most heinous of the hospital's inmates.

Opinion

Based on Dennis Lehane's fantastic novel, Shutter Island is a great psychological thriller - indeed one of the best after "The Silence of Lambs" - that finally manages to scare you, not because it has some sadistic person, but because it really messes with you.

The brilliant story gathers memories, visions, and paranoia, to arrive at the final twist, though not very unpredictable if you have seen films such as "The Sixth Sense" or "The Others".

Director Martin Scorsese perfectly recreates the dark atmosphere of the island, relying also on the stunning, and gloomy cinematography by Robert Richardson, on the high tension that keeps you company throughout the film - clearly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock -, and on the music perfectly chosen to increase the sense of mystery.

Unfortunately, while on one hand, Scorsese puts the audience in the position of accepting reality for what it is, as brutal it may be, on the other hand, among the detailed memories, there are also the corpses in the snow, in the Dachau concentration camp. Now the problem is that somebody may think - some people actually think that already - that the horrors of World War II never happened, and that they are the result of mental insanity.

However, the acting is excellent. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a spectacular performance - once again not recognized in an appropriate way. The supporting cast is also terrific. Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Ted Levine, they all are.

Mention-Worthy Quotes

Teddy Daniels: Which would be worse - to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?

Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Did you know that the word 'trauma' comes from the Greek for 'wound'? Hm? And what is the German word for 'dream'? Traum. Ein Traum. Wounds can create monsters, and you, you are wounded, Marshal.