October 07, 2006

Martin Scorsese's Student Films

Apparently these were readily available for those wanting to see them. I had no idea. Really great work, this guy really took like a duck to water. It's Not Just You, Murray was especially surprising.


WHAT'S A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS



IT'S NOT JUST YOU, MURRAY PART 1



IT'S NOT JUST YOU, MURRAY PART 2




THE BIG SHAVE


15 comments:

Bill C said...

The Big Shave I've always thought of as the quintessential student film.

mimo70 said...

"What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?" is terrific - full of visual wit and charm. He mixes up shot sizes, shows a knack for inserting a smooth dolly shot at just the right moment and edits with style and energy. Visually it has a great rhythm - like an intricate drum solo. Fantastic.

Bill C said...

For what it's worth, The Departed is awesome, way better than the HK original. I'm kinda worried about Scorsese, though--it's insanely misanthropic.

Anonymous said...

The Departed might be the blackest black comedy I've ever seen.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen Italianamerican, another early Scorsese where the director interviews his parents during dinner? Need to see that one, again, myself; saw it around the same time I first saw The Big Shave.

I really enjoyed The Departed, and to be fair I haven't seen Infernal Affairs, but I wonder if the film didn't use up all of the literal and figurative bullets in its chamber before its final scene. The very end somehow rang falsely to me; I thought something more inconclusive would have come across a little better. Or maybe I'm just upset that Scorsese led me on with that reference to The Third Man.

However, in all the Scorsese madness that's (rightfully) going on, I think I'd be amiss if I didn't mention that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning turned out to be the best film to bear the name since Hooper's original masterpiece. Hope that comes as high praise from a fellow who has maniacally defended The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 on this blog in the past. It starts off a little shaky, with origin stories all over the place, but it eventually gets its footing. It's a disturbing piece, placed in a post-Wild One, pre-Easy Rider setting, one which compares home-grown insanity from the disenchanted lower classes to insanity culled from foreign (Vietnam) and false (biker gangs) sources. It doesn't totally explore the ideas of "civilized" condescension like Hooper's original does (although Jordana Brewster, bland as she is, encapsulates those ideas pretty well). But it seems to say that while Hooper's Sawyer family struggles to find purpose after they are rendered obsolete, The Beginning's Hewitt family finds their purpose at the moment that the meat industry dries up, and that's to be just plain batshit insane. Even in a turbulent and uncertain social climate, they can hold their own and prove themselves to be just as traumatizing. The Beginning is the first truly frightening horror film I've seen in a long while, and I didn't care at all for the original remake.

Employee of the Month, on the other hand, is the worst film of the year thus far. Not that that should be a surprise, but wow, this has been a misanthropic weekend in American cinema.

Alex Jackson said...

Shit man, I wish I could have gone to the movies this week. All of sudden there are TWO movies playing in theaters that I want to see.

Next week is The Marine, which I actually want to see.

Two weeks from now is Marie Antoinette, The Prestige, and Running with Scissors.

Was burning the midnight oil trying to finish a review. Needs one more paragraph as I write this, it's running ten pages long right now. And then we had to pick up my in-laws from the airport. No time. :(

Bill C said...

Hey, Ian: Just for your edification, Infernal Affairs essentially concludes with the 'elevator scene,' so the epilogue (which I think I liked more than you did) is a Scorsese invention. On the DVD, though, they show alternate versions of the elevator scene with different outcomes, which points up the fact that this story really writes itself into a corner. Why I enjoyed the American rethink is because it seemed to recognize that: no matter how you slice it, the movie's plot is completely arbitrary--and so it gives us the most arbitrary ending of all.

Anonymous said...

Some people just got what it takes. All of these rule and are completely different tonally and structurally from one another while still maintaining a distinct sense of Marty's style.

This stuff should be compiled on a DVD along with Marty's ads and music videos, a la the Lynch DVD, I think they're the only two directors who didn't make sucky student films.

I'm usually not a fan of shorts and avant garde stuff like The Big Shave sort of is (I love The Big Shave though because of it's relationship to Marty's themes of Catholic guilt and self flagellation/multilation as well as his love for bloodletting, it really doesn't have jack shit to do with Vietnam and that's pretty much just a way that he could get it on the festival circuit I think). One thing I like about Scorsese's work is it's not "political" in the way we commonly thing of the word as being "topical" or "partisan"; his work always has an honest fly on the wall observer of the world feel, he's too detached to make an anti Vietnam war protest short.

Anonymous said...

Oh Alex, as this board and IVIOT board's resident wrestling expert (a dubious honor at best) I'm going to see the Marine, although I'm going with my friends when I come back home (to go to a wrestling pay per view live of all reasons) about a week after it comes out. I'll probably post a review on the IVIOTS board.

Have you seen "See No Evil" with Kane? I saw it at a dollar theater in this shitty mall and it's one of the best comedies this year. I recently heard an interview with a WWE employee who was at the press screening as Kane laughed maniacally at the killing he does in the film like Robert DeNiro cackling at Problem Child in Cape Feare. I'd pay a million bucks to see that.

Alex Jackson said...

Have you seen "See No Evil" with Kane? I saw it at a dollar theater in this shitty mall and it's one of the best comedies this year. I recently heard an interview with a WWE employee who was at the press screening as Kane laughed maniacally at the killing he does in the film like Robert DeNiro cackling at Problem Child in Cape Feare. I'd pay a million bucks to see that.

I kind of wanted to see it. Did you know it's directed by a former porno director who helmed a very important miscegenation film called "Let Me Tell You Bout White Chicks"?

Anonymous said...

Definitely rent the DVD when it comes out in a couple weeks, sort of shocked it's not out already.

And yeah, I heard about Gregory Dark, he's considered a revolutionary porno director and not surprisingly also directed music videos for Britney Spears. You always seem to have lots of fun with porno, you getting around to Pirates soon?

Alex Jackson said...

You always seem to have lots of fun with porno, you getting around to Pirates soon?

In time, in time.

Anonymous said...

Just found out this student movie website, anyone knows what they are doing?

Unknown said...

Have recently found one more film on the students' theme which comes out this spring. Smart comedy, not bad acting. Here it is:
Students' Movie

Unknown said...

Do you need an urgent loan of any kind? Loans to liquidate debts or need to loan to improve your business have you been rejected by any other banks and financial institutions? Do you need a loan or a mortgage? This is the place to look, we are here to solve all your financial problems. We borrow money for the public. Need financial help with a bad credit in need of money. To pay for a commercial investment at a reasonable rate of 3%, let me use this method to inform you that we are providing reliable and helpful assistance and we will be ready to lend you. Contact us today by email: daveloganloanfirm@gmail.com Call/Text: +1(501)800-0690 And whatsapp: +1 (315) 640-3560

NEED A LOAN?
Ask Me.