Martin Scorsese (EE.UU., 1942) figura entre los directores estadounidenses más prolíficos (más de veinticinco obras realizadas en cuarenta años de actividad) y ha sido galardonado con los premios más importantes del mundo del cine. Desde el éxito de Taxi Driver (1976), que inauguró su larga colaboración con Robert De Niro, sigue inspirándose en sus raíces italoestadounidenses, como demostró en Uno de los nuestros (1990) y Casino (1995). Es un director cinéfilo y con un espíritu muy independiente que consigue alternar éxitos de taquilla, como El aviador (2004), Infiltrados (2006) y Shutter Island (2010) con obras más personales sobre la historia del cine (A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, 1995) o la música (Bob Dylan y The Rolling Stones). Scorsese es reconocido mundialmente por su constante labor por salvaguardar el patrimonio del cine de autor, para lo que ha creado dos fundaciones.
Practically perfect 100 page book on this great director featuring many photos and NO FILM-THEORY JARGON WHATSOEVER.
Sample quote :
But The Age of Innocence cannot be reduced merely to the cruelty of Edith Wharton’s novel. Scorsese takes such delight in filming these people, and these costumes, objects and settings, that the film often seems to forget to be unhappy.
In fact the only thing wrong with this is the cover which shows Martin Scorsese as the over-friendly uncle saying hey, everyone’s gone out, they won’t be back for hours, what say we watch some movies together? Then we could play some games. No that’s okay Uncle Martin, I gotta do my homework… Aww, homework can wait….
Cover aside, here we have a brisk hustle through all these movies, I never realized what a workaholic Scorsese is – Mean Streets, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More, Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours, Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Casino – the list goes on & he hasn’t stopped yet. Some are admitted failures – New York New York, Kundun, Shutter Island. Some were massive hits – Color of Money, Gangs of New York. Some are my favourites, some I found unwatchable (Gangs of New York!). As well as that, he produced other great movies like You Can Count On Me, acted in nine movies, made commercials and documentaries (like the Dylan stuff, No Direction Home and Rolling Thunder Revue.) Also had time to marry Isabella Rosselini – only lasted 3 years but what the hell.
Turns out there is a whole lot of this Masters of Cinema series and they’re all dead cheap too. I’m gonna get them.
Recommended. But don’t look at that cover for too long.
“Violence is not the answer, it doesn’t work any more. We are at the end of the worst century in which the greatest atrocities in the history of the world have occurred... The nature of human beings must change. We must cultivate love and compassion.” - Martin Scorsese
Breezy read (nearly as many pictures as text) with author Sotinel striving to combine Scorsese's multiple interests and themes (religiosity/betrayal/sacrifice/intensity, cinema history, music) into a coherent whole, but having to rely on the "one for them, one for me" credo to make sense of some outliers. I've seen 25 Scorese films over more than that many years -- does this make me want to see those I skipped? Maybe The Age of Innocence. Unfortunately, the book stops at Shutter Island (2010), leaving it for readers/viewers to digest and align the director's more recent epics (The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon) for themselves. Methinks I see the patterns continue. Scorsese emerges as a grand old man (and mentor) of the movies and a true representative of the 20th (and 21st) century.