MARTIN SCORSESE & NEW YORK CITY: A PERFECT PAIRING

Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese & Harvey Keitel on the set
of Mean Streets (1973).

Martin Scorsese and the city of New York have a connection that is unrivalled by any other director
and location. The combination of some of Scorsese's most gritty and dark films from the 1970's (I'm talking Taxi Driver & Mean Streets) and the industrial streets of Manhattan just seem to click, and with the announcement of his latest feature, The Wolf of Wall Street (trailer), once again set in the Concrete Jungle, sees Scorsese filming in once again in New York.

Although this latest film is worlds away from his masterpieces in the '70s, shown both the switch to digital shooting and the diversion from his then dark and violent scripts, the film looks good. I wouldn't have guessed from the trailer that it was directed by Scorsese, perhaps Baz Luhrmann (it's very Gatsby-esque) or Wes Anderson. Perhaps he is trying to tell us that he is not a one-trick pony and that he has advanced alongside the technology and can use it just as good as these young'uns who seem to dominating mainstream cinema currently.

Perhaps the style of his '70s crime dramas is hard to achieve on the new digital cameras, after all, it was in fact the darkness, the lack of colours and the dingy, back alleys that propelled his films to the excellence in which they are viewed at, and now an audience expects crisp footage and perfect lighting. We have seen digitally shot crime dramas such as Gangster Squad gain a lot of criticism in being style of substance, being accused of trying too hard to get the feeling of the past in the film.
Scorsese is not willing to be held to these scrutinies, and therefore with the dying of the old technology and the birth of the new, Scorsese in a way has to let his old style die and birth a new style.

Now that I've said what I needed to say regarding the criticism that the films trailer has been getting (to be honest, I've not seen a lot, but what I have seen has been ridiculous), I can express my excitement and anticipation for this film. The trailer features a lot of comedy, something that Scorsese is relatively new to. This is exciting, and with the star cast of Leonardo Dicaprio and Matthew Mcconaughey along with comedy-god Jonah Hill, I think Scorsese will pull the film off and possibly get a Best Picture nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards.

This film oozes potential and the masses of praise I have seen online regarding the trailer completely outweigh the people criticising it. This film is definitely one to watch, and I cannot wait to see the pairing of Scorsese and New York City once again.