It has been a dream for sometime to watch the top Scorcese movies. I had done half the job with ‘Raging Bull’, and ‘The Taxi Driver’ was left. Thank Heavens, I completed ‘the-every-movie-lovers’ dream last week.
Scorcese has been an entirely different man, making all those mind boggling. Fascinating movies. He had the powerhouses like De Niro to help him out. De Niro spots an entirely cool and handsome look. There is no guy like De Niro who can mould his body to the extremes for the sake of character. Right from ‘The Godfather’(the first I’ve seen) he continues to amaze me.
De Niro plays a hazy character with so much undercurrents and emotions flowing through him. The diary he writes gives the viewer a fairer picture of his confused and psychic mind. There are plots and sub-plots like Vietnam war, prostitution, emotional detachment, lust, betrayal. So it would be foolish to draw a clear theme. But basically the director dwells on urban degradation.
De Niro comes across as a insomniac taxi driver who drives through the night hoping to catch some sleep. He sees around him only equally desperate and perverted people and there is no one to seek advice. Then there is a presidential campaign happening in the background promising a lot of change. De finds a love in midst of this campaign. She dumps him because she could not adjust to the uncouth ways. The emotional shock coupled with some happenings gives him a belief that he can redeem this world through guns.
In the end we see a De Niro who is made hero by the media, even when his supposed attempt to rescue a hooker turns bloody.
Something that stands out through the movie is videography. I have not seen a better claustrophobic camera work. This proves that shelling loads of money need not give us the best visuals. We miss these kind of films. Sadly we even miss it from Scorcese.
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