To the Lighthouse

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2019)

Melodramas set in loony bins (or which might be, like 'Last Year at Marienbad') date back as far as the silent era. So Martin Scorsese is following in distinguished footsteps bolstered by a superb cast (including Max Von Sydow, whose presence immediately evokes Bergman mind-benders like 'Hour of the Wolf') and plush production values to give us 'Shutter Island'.
The much-discussed 'surprise' ending won't come as such a surprise to anyone familiar (as Scorsese doubtless is) with 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari', 'Shock Corridor' or more recent psycho-dramas like 'Don't Look Now', 'The Shining' or 'A Beautiful Mind'. It's always a relief whenever Scorsese temporarily abandons his penchant for Catholic gangsters swearing at one another hour after hour, from which this one provides an agreeable respite; although employing imagery from the Holocaust is more than a little tasteless. But nobody has ever commended Scorsese on his taste.