Dearly Departed
I just got back from watching Martin Scorsese’s new film – The Departed. In the words of the great cultural critic Ted “Theodore” Logan, “Whoa.” “Excellent.”
OK, so I’m pretty biased. I love gangster films. I find something strangely appealing about the gangster, despite the rampant violence and misogyny. Perhaps it’s his insatiable appetite for life (for power, for sex, for food, for fashion). Perhaps it’s his fulfillment (well, before his fall, that is) of the myth of the American Dream: “Top of the world, Ma!” Perhaps it’s the genre’s exploration of issues of ethnicity, class, and gender (that would be the academic explanation, yes). Or perhaps it’s the actors who play these gangsters – all “the greats”: James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino.
And add to that list now, Jack Nicholson, who in The Departed is at the height of magnetism and depravity.
Like many gangster films, The Departed is character- and star-driven. I was skeptical, at first, as the Hong Kong film on which The Departed is based, Infernal Affairs, is plot-driven, and Scorese, tho’ I love him dearly, doesn’t always care much about plot. Plus, Infernal Affairs stars one of my favorite actors, Tony Leung; The Departed features a few of my least faves, namely Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. But here, I’ll concede, they’re superb. (Well, DiCaprio is superb, despite that child-like face of his; Damon, reprising his Talented Mr. Ripley deceptions, is adequate.) The Rolling Stone review of The Departed notes that Scorsese’s film echoes other great gangster baddies – it “channel[s] James Cagney in White Heat and Paul Muni in Scarface.” But watching The Departed, I was reminded instead of Vince Barrett in Scarface. Barrett played Tony Camonte’s bumbling, illiterate secretary, Angelo – a small part, sure, but a memorable one. The Departed is chock full of these types of roles: Martin Sheen as Queenan, Alec Baldwin as Ellerby, and Mark Walhberg as Dirk Diggler…. No wait… wrong film…. Mark Wahlberg as Sgt. Dignam. These are minor roles, but so well-written and acted, one relishes each moment the actor is on-screen.
The Departed contains many of the stock conventions of the gangster genre: great soundtrack, snappy dialogue, fast-paced editing (and the Oscar goes to Thelma Schoonmaker). There are passionate gangsters and impotent gangsters, moles and molls, religious iconography, and head-shots and blood galore. Scorsese hasn’t reinvented or reimagined the gangster genre here. But he has made his best film since Goodfellas.
OK, so I’m pretty biased. I love gangster films. I find something strangely appealing about the gangster, despite the rampant violence and misogyny. Perhaps it’s his insatiable appetite for life (for power, for sex, for food, for fashion). Perhaps it’s his fulfillment (well, before his fall, that is) of the myth of the American Dream: “Top of the world, Ma!” Perhaps it’s the genre’s exploration of issues of ethnicity, class, and gender (that would be the academic explanation, yes). Or perhaps it’s the actors who play these gangsters – all “the greats”: James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino.
And add to that list now, Jack Nicholson, who in The Departed is at the height of magnetism and depravity.
Like many gangster films, The Departed is character- and star-driven. I was skeptical, at first, as the Hong Kong film on which The Departed is based, Infernal Affairs, is plot-driven, and Scorese, tho’ I love him dearly, doesn’t always care much about plot. Plus, Infernal Affairs stars one of my favorite actors, Tony Leung; The Departed features a few of my least faves, namely Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. But here, I’ll concede, they’re superb. (Well, DiCaprio is superb, despite that child-like face of his; Damon, reprising his Talented Mr. Ripley deceptions, is adequate.) The Rolling Stone review of The Departed notes that Scorsese’s film echoes other great gangster baddies – it “channel[s] James Cagney in White Heat and Paul Muni in Scarface.” But watching The Departed, I was reminded instead of Vince Barrett in Scarface. Barrett played Tony Camonte’s bumbling, illiterate secretary, Angelo – a small part, sure, but a memorable one. The Departed is chock full of these types of roles: Martin Sheen as Queenan, Alec Baldwin as Ellerby, and Mark Walhberg as Dirk Diggler…. No wait… wrong film…. Mark Wahlberg as Sgt. Dignam. These are minor roles, but so well-written and acted, one relishes each moment the actor is on-screen.
The Departed contains many of the stock conventions of the gangster genre: great soundtrack, snappy dialogue, fast-paced editing (and the Oscar goes to Thelma Schoonmaker). There are passionate gangsters and impotent gangsters, moles and molls, religious iconography, and head-shots and blood galore. Scorsese hasn’t reinvented or reimagined the gangster genre here. But he has made his best film since Goodfellas.
<< Home