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.

ADAPTATIONS & THE GREAT GATSBY:

When looking at an adaptation, analysing the originality and cleverness of the story is something that cannot be done. Only minor details can be changed by the director in order to make an adaptation, and when looking critically at a film such as Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, it is important to take note of this. What we can look at in terms of analysis is the cinematography, the screenplay and the (small) changes that Luhrmann did make to the classic novel.

Immediately this film screams Baz Luhrmann, the blinding colours and exaggerated everything gives a wonderful presentation of the roaring twenties, a time of excess and partying. If there is one thing that I have talked to friends and fellow film students about in agreement, it is that the film is extremely aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to watch purely on the basis of the glamour of the whole thing.

If there's one thing that I heard people moaning about before the movies release, it was the music. Let me just take this time to say how these people clearly have not seen a Baz Luhrmann film before. He made Shakespeare with a soundtrack consisting of Radiohead. The guy is a musical genius, in my opinion, the songs were so fitting and it is quite rightly so that the soundtrack is doing extremely well in sales.

Adding Nick's situation at the start and end of the film was a clever way of introducing the narrative from his point of view. Although any changes to the novel were going to upset people, Luhrmann stuck to the story perfectly, in my opinion, only changing what needed to be changed for cinematic purposes.

The film is outstanding. At just over two hours long, it presents a classic piece of 20th century literature for a 21st century audience, managing to hold a sold out audiences attention and produce laughs, screams and tears, even though the novel came out over 90 years ago and the majority of both viewings I have attended have been people who have read the book (I talk to random people at the cinema, is that bad? Probably). Go and see this film if you haven't yet.