Crisp Criticism - "I Heard You Paint Houses", "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood", "Ford v Ferrari", "Charlie’s Angels", "Pain and Glory", "Frozen II"

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Julien Faddoul

I Heard You Paint Houses ***

A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.

Long, muted, deliberate crime film; a kind of compendium of its director’s major themes of avarice and jealousy, murder and guilt, loyalty and betrayal, identity and regret. It is a film about the rumination in between crimes, with searing set-pieces of uncharacteristic laconism, and immaculate performances from the three leading maestros (Pesci especially). One gets the sense that Scorsese is atoning for something, tearing the film from himself as an act of purgatory.

d – Martin Scorsese

w – Steve Zaillian   (Based on the Book by Charles Brandt)

ph – Rodrigo Prieto

pd – Bob Shaw

m – Robbie Robertson

ed – Thelma Schoonmaker

cos – Christopher Peterson, Sandy Powell

p – Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Irwin Winkler, Gerald Chamales, Gastón Pavlovich, Randall Emmett, Gabriele Israilovici

Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Harvey Keitel, Jesse Plemons, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Kathrine Narducci, JC MacKenzie, Craig Vincent, Gary Basaraba, Jack Huston, Domenick Lombardozzi

A Martin Scorsese Retrospection (Feature films; 1973 - 2016)

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Julien Faddoul

Mean Streets (1973) ****

A small-time hood must choose between love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

Impeccable, sordid melodrama with an almost matchless eye for realistic detail and natural performance, despite its low budget. The first film in which Scorsese announced himself as a major artist and discovered the subject matter that has served him so well.

d – Martin Scorsese

w – Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin

ph – Kent Wakeford 

ed – Sid Levin

p – Jonathan T. Taplin

Cast: Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) ***

A widow sets off with her young son from New Mexico to California in the hopes of a singing career.

Surprisingly old-fashioned in its themes, this is a superb and endearing slice of Americana of the times, with excellent writing and performances.

d – Martin Scorsese

w – Robert Getchell

ph – Kent L. Wakeford

pd – Toby Carr Rafelson

ed – Marcia Lucas

p – Audrey Maas, David Susskind

Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Alfred Lutter, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Green Bush, Diane Ladd, Harvey Kietel, Lelia Goldoni, Jodie Foster

Crisp Criticism - "Jojo Rabbit", "Harriet", "The King", "Last Christmas", "Midway", "Doctor Sleep", "Motherless Brooklyn", "Terminator: Dark Fate", "Dolemite is My Name" Retrospection - "The Long Day Closes" (1992)

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Julien Faddoul

Jojo Rabbit *

A young boy in Hitler's army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Nazism as seen through rose-tinted, Dadaist, infantile glasses. Accusations of back-door ratification are unreasonable; the problem is Waititi (who is half-Jewish, incidentally) is completely indecisive in both tone and satirical viewpoint and the film just isn’t funny or insightful enough, despite a fairly impressive juvenile performance at the centre. One gets the sense that what he was going for was something akin to The Great Dictator (1940) or To Be or Not to Be (1942). 

wd – Taika Waititi   (Based on the Novel by Christine Leunens)

ph – Mihai Malaimare Jr

pd – Ra Vincent

m – Michael Giacchino

ed – Tom Eagles

cos – Mayes C. Rubeo

p – Carthew Neal, Chelsea Winstanley, Taika Waititi  

Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant, Archie Yates