Graphic and glorious, just in need of condensation

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2006)

Exploring the rise and fall of a gangster, Goodfellas dawdles on Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) from his childhood when he first started as an errand boy for the local mob on across the street, to the height of his life when he unexpectedly has to make a decision that changes his life. By this time Henry is so entangled in the mafia that it has become his whole social life  from his friends, his wife, his job to his values  he is consumed in a camaraderie. The film is based on a true story and given its content and realistic photography approach, it feels strangely like a documentary. Director Martin Scorsese, who grew up on the gritty crime-infested streets of New York said: "I remember seeing it on the streets and thinking, this is the way a movie should look like."
To convey this realistic tone, the camera thus coldly follows Henry around everywhere and it does not shy away from violence or unpleasant diversions, as is Scorsese's style. It invests the whole film in a behind-the-scenes atmosphere, where the director expertly wields a long, continuous reel of exclusive footage. Several takes are of steadicams gliding through the world for minutes, as when Henry and Karen park their cark, cross the street and enter the Copacopana where they are pampered by Henry's connections. It's raw and unflinching and truly absorbs you in Henry's life as a wiseguy, climbing the mafia hierarchy. He often botches his way through jobs; he has a hard time whacking people and he clumsily cheats on his wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco)  the danger of the character is that you like him. Ray Liotta fantastically sews together the events as they unfold in a patient voice-over narrative flow.
This flow is the film's fatal flaw. Sure, the pacing starts out nicely enough by having Henry slowly climb the mafia ladder along with his wiseguy friends Jimmy (Robert De Niro) and Tommy (Joe Pesci), both of whom are equally charismatic characters  the latter with rapid-fire dialogue and a rapid-fire gun and Pesci winning an Oscar for his colourful performance. It's all compelling at first BUT as is the usual mistake by Scorsese... he dilutes his film. It's like he got so taken with the mafia content that he wanted so much more of it for his own self-indulgence. There are numerous scenes that serve no other purpose than giving us a feel for the mafia family and the way things are run. It is true that some of them are important for establishing the atmosphere, but there are too many of them. The pace thus shifts from patient to lingering and the plot suffers countless detours and diversion into the life of crime. It loses focus.
I cannot figure out whether this 'diluting the film' approach is Scorsese's style or an unfortunate mistake he keeps repeating in every film of his. Nevertheless, it makes Goodfellas dawdle leisurely without any clear sense of point or direction for long periods of time. Everything else in the film is fantastic, no hyperbole. Scorsese takes a deep plunge into wiseguy culture, indulging in mob dialogue that snaps and crackles like kindling in a fireplace, brutal hits, sleek heists and rats. He navigates moods, themes, characters, and popular music (which is used throughout as a background device) with expert skill and less than twenty minutes into the film, you are so absorbed in the characters' lives of crime that you know of nothing else.
As for acting, it is Ray Liotta who grabs my attention as Henry, and not the resident scene-stealer Robert De Niro. I also fell in love with Lorraine Bracco's performance as Henry's Jewish wife  whose kickass attitude and sparkling personality translates well on camera. The greatest sheer presence can best be attributed to Paul Sorvino as the big-shot boss Paulie who, in spite of not saying a word until half of the film has passed, communicates a fantastic lethality. The reason the whole ensemble shines in their performances stems from the fact that they aren't acting like their characters; they are behaving like them. Of course the whole of Goodfellas is of the utmost quality but it could be even greater by being more condensed, as good most of Martin Scorsese's long-winded, diluted and slightly self-indulgent films.
8 out of 10