“When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I'm saying to you is this: when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?” This pretty well sums up Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film “The Departed.” It is one of Scorsese’s best, perfectly complimented by great performances from Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Wahlberg. As Scott Mantz of “Access Hollywood” put it, “The Departed” is “Scorsese’s best film since Goodfellas.” Having seen few other films of his I can’t really talk, but it’s tough to beat.
The most obvious touch I noticed of Scorsese’s in the movie was his creative use of cuts and close-ups. Aided by his all-star cast, he is able to tell stories and develop characters without words. First, in all the important or revealing conversations, he uses close-ups on the speaker, quickly cutting as the speaker changes, which let us know what characters think of each other. A good example of this is Will Costigan’s (DiCaprio) interview with Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Wahlberg). Dignam interrogates Costigan like a criminal and we can see the animosity between them, but then Dignam and Queenan act more sincere when they know what they needed, and we can see a sense of camaraderie between the three. Scorsese also uses face close-ups when characters aren’t talking, which lets us understand what the character is thinking without them verbally expressing their thoughts. He also uses this to contrast between the criminal, Sullivan (Damon), living the high life, while good guy Will Costigan lives a life of paranoia and anxiety. Usually during particularly chaotic times in Costigan’s life, the film flashes between his situation and some peaceful or fun situation in Sullivan’s life, focusing on their facial expressions. Some unexpected and painful things happen in this movie, and the close-ups show reactions that we would otherwise miss. Events in the end of the film are shown especially well without many words, continuing even then to further develop characters.
The most obvious touch I noticed of Scorsese’s in the movie was his creative use of cuts and close-ups. Aided by his all-star cast, he is able to tell stories and develop characters without words. First, in all the important or revealing conversations, he uses close-ups on the speaker, quickly cutting as the speaker changes, which let us know what characters think of each other. A good example of this is Will Costigan’s (DiCaprio) interview with Captain Queenan (Martin Sheen) and Sergeant Dignam (Wahlberg). Dignam interrogates Costigan like a criminal and we can see the animosity between them, but then Dignam and Queenan act more sincere when they know what they needed, and we can see a sense of camaraderie between the three. Scorsese also uses face close-ups when characters aren’t talking, which lets us understand what the character is thinking without them verbally expressing their thoughts. He also uses this to contrast between the criminal, Sullivan (Damon), living the high life, while good guy Will Costigan lives a life of paranoia and anxiety. Usually during particularly chaotic times in Costigan’s life, the film flashes between his situation and some peaceful or fun situation in Sullivan’s life, focusing on their facial expressions. Some unexpected and painful things happen in this movie, and the close-ups show reactions that we would otherwise miss. Events in the end of the film are shown especially well without many words, continuing even then to further develop characters.
2 comments:
"Animosity"-nice word, this is some good writing I would hang this on my refrigerator...but in all seriousness I liked how you talked about Scorsese's use of visual images to tell a story, I really think that the dialogue in a film is only 25.6% of what makes the final product what it is. What do you think about that? I wonder if Mrs. Towne can sense the animosity between us in her class? overall decent piece of literature but to be completely honest, if I noticed it in a bookstore and it just happened to be on sale.. I would still walk right past it....COOMQUAT
I liked your use of quoting from the movie in your blog. well done.
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