Scorsese is always considered the greatest living filmmaker. Whether or not you agree, even his critics consider him one of the greatest that's ever lived. Even when doing some fairly standard genre biopic material with the Aviator or remakes like The Departed and Cape Fear, he still manages to put a personal touch on the material and create the sort of film, like Taxi Driver, that simply pulls you directly into its world.
There are few directors as capable of drawing you into their world, and throughout the course of this film, you'll feel as if you're right there in the seat next to Travis Bickle. The film has a very real feel to it. It is probably as close as you can get to the feeling of "found footage" without using some gimmick like handheld cameras or The Office style interviews between scenes.
The film stands as the second entry in something of a trilogy of films alongside The Searchers and Paris, Texas. All three films use essentially the same outline for their stories, and both Scorsese's film and Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas are considered loose remakes of The Searchers. The trilogy stands as a testament to how many different ways there are to tell a story, proving that old axiom that a movie isn't about what it's about, it's about how it's about it.
The Searchers was essentially an adventure film, a western revolving around unusually deep and personal themes of prejudice and lonesomeness. Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas is about lonesomeness as well as issues of family and the American Dream. Scorsese's film is the darkest of the three, revolving around the use of violence as a means to an end of loneliness. In all three, the heroes try their best to help people find their way back home, but they always stand on the outside looking in.
Each of these films is its own statement on the nature of loneliness, and it's because of this that the heroes are all so easy to sympathize with. What Travis Bickle does in the film is certainly not something most of us would ever take part in, but you find yourself wanting him to come out okay, nevertheless, simply because we all know that lonesomeness, that need for validation.
Everyone has been at a point in their lives where they feel trapped in their own little bubble. Loneliness doesn't just mean being alone, being single or living out in the middle of nowhere. Loneliness can happen even when you're surrounded by people all day. We know where Travis has been.
What few people want to discuss, because it involves delving into your own dark side, is the part of us all that roots for Travis in the end of the film. What he does cannot be morally justified, but he does find the validation he was seeking. The tragedy is that morality isn't as simple as Travis makes it out to be.
These three films serve as companion pieces to one another, but Taxi Driver also goes hand in hand with First Blood, which is also about a lonesome Vietnam veteran who uses violence as a way to solve issues of loneliness and seek validation.
There are few directors as capable of drawing you into their world, and throughout the course of this film, you'll feel as if you're right there in the seat next to Travis Bickle. The film has a very real feel to it. It is probably as close as you can get to the feeling of "found footage" without using some gimmick like handheld cameras or The Office style interviews between scenes.
The film stands as the second entry in something of a trilogy of films alongside The Searchers and Paris, Texas. All three films use essentially the same outline for their stories, and both Scorsese's film and Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas are considered loose remakes of The Searchers. The trilogy stands as a testament to how many different ways there are to tell a story, proving that old axiom that a movie isn't about what it's about, it's about how it's about it.
The Searchers was essentially an adventure film, a western revolving around unusually deep and personal themes of prejudice and lonesomeness. Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas is about lonesomeness as well as issues of family and the American Dream. Scorsese's film is the darkest of the three, revolving around the use of violence as a means to an end of loneliness. In all three, the heroes try their best to help people find their way back home, but they always stand on the outside looking in.
Each of these films is its own statement on the nature of loneliness, and it's because of this that the heroes are all so easy to sympathize with. What Travis Bickle does in the film is certainly not something most of us would ever take part in, but you find yourself wanting him to come out okay, nevertheless, simply because we all know that lonesomeness, that need for validation.
Everyone has been at a point in their lives where they feel trapped in their own little bubble. Loneliness doesn't just mean being alone, being single or living out in the middle of nowhere. Loneliness can happen even when you're surrounded by people all day. We know where Travis has been.
What few people want to discuss, because it involves delving into your own dark side, is the part of us all that roots for Travis in the end of the film. What he does cannot be morally justified, but he does find the validation he was seeking. The tragedy is that morality isn't as simple as Travis makes it out to be.
These three films serve as companion pieces to one another, but Taxi Driver also goes hand in hand with First Blood, which is also about a lonesome Vietnam veteran who uses violence as a way to solve issues of loneliness and seek validation.
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It can be very satisfying to have better surround sound than the commercial movie theaters. Movie Garrison educates them with the use of a hand-puppet named "Mr. Hes also joined by a contingent of Eastern European journalists led by Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman)
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