A moment from years ago keeps replaying in B次元官网网址檚 mind.
When Akira Kurosawa was given an honorary Academy Award in 1990, the then 80-year-old Japanese filmmaker of B次元官网网址淪even SamuraiB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淚kiru,B次元官网网址� said he hadnB次元官网网址檛 yet grasped the full essence of cinema.
It struck Scorsese, then in post-production on B次元官网网址淕oodfellas,B次元官网网址� as a curious thing for such a master filmmaker to say. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 until Scorsese also turned 80 that he began to comprehend KurosawaB次元官网网址檚 words. Even now, Scorsese says heB次元官网网址檚 just realizing the possibilities of cinema.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e lived long enough to be his age and I think I understand now,B次元官网网址� Scorsese said in a recent interview. B次元官网网址淏ecause there is no limit. The limit is in yourself. These are just tools, the lights and the camera and that stuff. How much further can you explore who you are?B次元官网网址�
ScorseseB次元官网网址檚 lifelong exploration has seemingly only grown deeper and more self-examining with time. In recent years, his films have swelled in scale and ambition as heB次元官网网址檚 plumbed the nature of faith ( ) and loss ( ).
His latest, about the systematic killing of Osage Nation members for their oil-rich land in the 1920s, is in many ways far outside ScorseseB次元官网网址檚 own experience. But as a story of trust and betrayal B次元官网网址� the film is centered on the loving yet treacherous relationship between Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), a member of a larger Osage family, and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a WWI veteran who comes to work for his corrupt uncle (Robert De Niro) B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 a profoundly personal film that maps some of the themes of ScorseseB次元官网网址檚 gangster films onto American history.
More than the back-room dealings of B次元官网网址淐asino,B次元官网网址� the bloody rampages of B次元官网网址淕angs of New YorkB次元官网网址� or the financial swindling of B次元官网网址淭he Wolf of Wall Street,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淜illers of the Flower MoonB次元官网网址� is the story of a crime wave. ItB次元官网网址檚 a disturbingly insidious one, where greed and violence infiltrate the most intimate relationships B次元官网网址� a genocide in the home. All of which, to Scorsese, harkens back to the tough guys and the weak-willed go-alongs he witnessed in his childhood growing up on Elizabeth Street in New York.
B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 been my whole life, dealing with who we are,B次元官网网址� says Scorsese. B次元官网网址淚 found that this story lent itself to that exploration further.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淜illers of the Flower Moon,B次元官网网址� a $200-million, 206-minute epic produced by Apple thatB次元官网网址檚 in theaters Friday, is an audacious big swing by Scorsese to continue his kind of ambitious, personal filmmaking on the largest scale at a time when such grand, big-screen statements are a rarity.
Scorsese considers B次元官网网址淜illers of the Flower MoonB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渁n internal spectacle.B次元官网网址� The Oklahoma-set film, adapted from , might be called his first Western. But while developing GrannB次元官网网址檚 book, which chronicles the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI, Scorsese came to the realization that centering the film on federal investigator Tom White was a familiar a type of Western.
B次元官网网址淚 realized: B次元官网网址榊ou donB次元官网网址檛 do that. Your Westerns are the Westerns you saw in the late B次元官网网址�40s and early B次元官网网址�50s, thatB次元官网网址檚 it. Peckinpah finished that. B次元官网网址榃ild Bunch,B次元官网网址� thatB次元官网网址檚 the end. Now theyB次元官网网址檙e different,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚t represented a certain time in who we were as a nation and a certain time in the world B次元官网网址� and the end of the studio system. It was a genre. That folklore is gone.B次元官网网址�
Scorsese, after conversations with Leonardo DiCaprio, pivoted to the story of Ernest and Mollie and a perspective closer to Osage Nation. Consultations with the tribe continued and expanded to include accurately capturing language, traditional clothing and customs.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 historical that Indigenous Peoples can tell their story at this level. ThatB次元官网网址檚 never happened before as far as I know,B次元官网网址� says Geoffrey Standing Bear, Principal Chief of Osage Nation. B次元官网网址淚t took somebody who could know that weB次元官网网址檝e been betrayed for hundreds of years. He wrote a story about betrayal of trust.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淜illers of the Flower MoonB次元官网网址� for Scorsese grew out of a period of reflection and reevaluation during the pandemic. COVID-19, he says, was B次元官网网址渁 gamechanger.B次元官网网址� For a filmmaker whose time is so intensely scheduled, the break was in some ways a relief, and it allowed him a chance to reconsider what he wants to dedicate himself to. For him, preparing a film is a meditative process.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 use a computer because I tried a couple times and I got very distracted. I get distracted as it is,B次元官网网址� Scorsese says. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e got films, IB次元官网网址檝e got books, IB次元官网网址檝e got people. IB次元官网网址檝e only begun this year to read emails. Emails, they scare me. It says B次元官网网址楥CB次元官网网址� and there are a thousand names. Who are these people?B次元官网网址�
Scorsese is laughing when he says this, surely aware that heB次元官网网址檚 playing up his image as a member of the old guard. (A moment later he adds that voicemail B次元官网网址渋s interesting to do at times.B次元官网网址�) Yet heB次元官网网址檚 also keen enough with technology to and make cameos in
Scorsese has for years been the preeminent conscience of cinema, passionately arguing for the place of personal filmmaking in an era of moviegoing where films can be devalued as B次元官网网址渃ontent,B次元官网网址� and big-screen vision can be shrunk down on streaming platforms.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 trying to keep alive the sense that cinema is an artform,B次元官网网址� Scorsese says. B次元官网网址淭he next generation may not see it that way because as children and younger people, theyB次元官网网址檙e exposed to films that are wonderful entertainment, beautifully made, but are purely diversionary. I think cinema can enrich your life.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淎s IB次元官网网址檓 leaving, IB次元官网网址檓 trying to say: Remember, this can really be something beautiful in your life.B次元官网网址�
That mission includes spearheading extensive restoration work with the along with a regular output of . Scorsese and his longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker are currently producing a documentary on
Cinema, he says, may be the preeminent 20th century artform, but something else will belong to the 21st century. Now, Scorsese says, B次元官网网址渢he visual image could be done by anything by anybody anytime anywhere.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭he possibilities are infinite on all levels. And thatB次元官网网址檚 exciting,B次元官网网址� Scorsese says. B次元官网网址淏ut at the same time, the more choices, the more difficult it is.B次元官网网址�
The pressure of time is weighing more heavily on Scorsese, too. He has, heB次元官网网址檚 said, maybe two more feature films left in him. Currently in the mix are an adaptation of GrannB次元官网网址檚 latest book, B次元官网网址� and an adaptation of Marilynne RobinsonB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淗ome.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檚 uncompromising. He just does what he feels he really wants to look into,B次元官网网址� says Rodrigo Prieto, ScorseseB次元官网网址檚 cinematographer on B次元官网网址淔lower Moon,B次元官网网址� as well as his last three feature films.
B次元官网网址淵ou can feel that itB次元官网网址檚 a personal exploration of his own psyche,B次元官网网址� adds Prieto. B次元官网网址淚n doing that, he allows growth for everybody, in a way, to really look into these characters who might be doing things we might find very objectionable. I canB次元官网网址檛 think of many other filmmakers who attempt at such a level of empathy and understanding.B次元官网网址�
Yet Scorsese says he often feels like heB次元官网网址檚 in a race to accomplish what he can with the time he has left. Increasingly, heB次元官网网址檚 prioritizing whatB次元官网网址檚 worth it. Some things are easier for him to give up.
B次元官网网址淲ould I like to do more? Yeah. Would I like to go to everybodyB次元官网网址檚 parties and dinner parties and things? Yeah, but you know what? I think I know enough people,B次元官网网址� Scorsese says with a laugh. B次元官网网址淲ould I like to go see the ancient Greek ruins? Yes. Go back to Sicily? Yes. Go back to Naples again? Yes. North Africa? Yes. But I donB次元官网网址檛 have to.B次元官网网址�
Time for Scorsese may be waning but curiosity is as abundant as ever. Recent reading for him includes a new translation of Alessandro ManzoniB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淭he Betrothed.B次元官网网址� Some old favorites he canB次元官网网址檛 help but keep revisiting. B次元官网网址淥ut of the PastB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� a movie he first saw as 6-year-old B次元官网网址� he watched again a few weeks ago. (B次元官网网址淲henever itB次元官网网址檚 on, I have to stop and watch it.B次元官网网址�) Vittorio De SicaB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淕olden NaplesB次元官网网址� was another recent rewatch.
B次元官网网址淚f IB次元官网网址檓 curious about something, I think IB次元官网网址檒l find a way B次元官网网址� if I hold out, if I hold up B次元官网网址� to try to make something about it on film,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淢y curiosity is still there.B次元官网网址�
So too is his continued astonishment at cinema and its capacity to transfix. Sometimes, Scorsese can hardly believe it. The other day he watched 1945 horror film B次元官网网址淭he Isle of the Dead,B次元官网网址� with Boris Karloff.
B次元官网网址淩eally? How many more times am I going to see that?B次元官网网址� Scorsese says, laughing at himself. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 their looks and their faces and the way (Karloff) moves. When I first saw it as a child, a young teenager, I was terrified by the film and the silences of it. The sense of contamination. I still get stuck on it.B次元官网网址�
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