Thirty years in the life of a gangster (may contain a *SPOILER*)

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2001)

This great films editing and style is vignetted together like a visual and story machine gun. This is even better than Godfather in many, many ways, going deeper into a gangsters typical life and the psyche of the mobster, their reasons for involvement in the business, and why women are attracted to them. An unusually personal film, it personalizes the characters lives and idiosyncrasies (Tommy's mother who paints, Jimmy's money habit, Henry's mistresses) to an extent of reality. The way a mobster lives, the insurance scams, the crime, the terrorizing, the money, and the death, and the way it is directed as a reality film incorporates the life of a gangster in many, many ways. Lorraine Bracco gives an unusually good performance as Henry Hill's wife, full of intensity and revelations on being a gangsters wife ("I always asked them for coffee, but they never wanted any"), and this film has a supreme cast. Robert DeNiro gives a great performance, and Joe Pesci's mad and reckless performance typecasted him for his career. Now, Ray Liotta was supreme, no question about it. This film engrosses you every minute with it's cutthroat fast-paced style, full of freeze-frames and catchy imagery, and it's detailed picture of mob life, both crime and non-crime, from not spending money to not taking phone calls to dumping trucks to burning buildings to hi-jacking trucks to pulling heists to getting a table at a restaurant free to inevitable death and destruction. Every minute I loved it, and it completely engrossed me in its detailed epic portrait of mob life. Director Martin Scorsese uses narraration, pacing, freeze-frames, text, and color well to show a scene's mood. His ability to dissect a scene into parts with narration and brilliant pacing is shown here. Also, it has great death scenes and violence scenes, a staple of the Mafia movie. Some of these are the man in the freezer and the telephone scene. This is different from the baroque Godfather opera epics in that it is faster paced and not as dark. And in the end of course, being a mobster is bad......