SANDY GARNETT ART BLOG

Scorcese does it again with a masterfully yet very dark tale about the Boston crime syndicates, spinning Good Fellas fame into the Irish bad guy lore. The remarkable cast is led by Nicholson, Martin Sheen, DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin. Here we see the guts of both the criminals and the police in a cat and mouse game that is gripping and leaves the audience exhausted and gasping for air in this morally questionable epic. The film is directed with great ease by Mr. Scorcese, or so the picture reads, and I came away from the film stunned. We see through the eyes of Damon and DiCaprio, two excellent actors whose capacities are cast pitch perfect in some twisted flip side of the coin scenario, as if the two characters are peeled off the same individual and sent down opposing corridors in life. There is no great message in the end, there are a lot of bad people in the world as my mother mentioned accurately, and I am happy not to have to play that life and death game to pay the rent. One of Nicholson’s lines when discussing DiCaprio’s father in the film reads like, ‘You’re father never wanted money, and you can’t do anything with a guy like that’. DiCaprio gets lost in his roles and plays the confused, smart thinking scammer with survival mentality in such a way given his street cred to occupy a unique place in cinema. The same goes for Damon, whose characters as in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Rounders, and the Bourne series feel specifically made for him. Damon brings back his Southie world from Good Will Hunting, and the pairing of these actors in this film are a sight to see, although they barely share the celluloid together. Nicholson returns to bad boy Jack and relishes the role after a series of lovable Jack pictures which remain memorable for his larger than life screen presence. I would have liked a glimpse through the underbrush, a hint of Hollywood in the end that suggests that there is something to be taken from this film, but the Departed’s darkness haunts perhaps for its stilted finish. There is much Scorcese and prototypical American violence, the film is not for the faint hearted, and I wonder which film I think is better, Good Fellas or this pea in the same pod. As a sucker for Italian culture, and for Ray Leota’s unforgettably lighthearted narrative which makes that classic so strangely friendly, I lean towards Good Fellas. But Good Fellas doesn’t haunt the way I think the Departed will resonate, so I’m stuck and like it that way for now, pleased that Scorcese has made me tick again with his great movie making talent.