The Departed: A Second Look

The contrast between the basic visual filmmaking of the previous Best Picture winner, Crash, and Martin Scorsese‘s The Departed is stark. Paul Haggis was obviously influenced by the conventions that had taken over cinema that emphasized closeups and crosscutting to build scenes ever since television changed the language of film. Scorsese, though, is far more adventurous and classically influenced, leading to a film of such energy and constant movement that it simply pales the previous winner...