A subversive and unflinching character-study with one of the most nuanced, well-realised protagonists of all time.

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2018)

'Taxi Driver (1976)' is an interesting, subversive and unflinching character-study, an amalgamation of genres that provides unexpectedly effecting results. You'd expect it to be a thriller, but it is actually more of a slow and methodical drama - despite all of its violence and otherwise seedy elements. As with most of Scorsese's work, the picture isn't interested in judging any of its characters or mindsets, no matter how deplorable they might be. Rather, it depicts its events with a candid honesty and asks us, the audience, to make up our own minds about them. This could sometimes be misconstrued as glamorisation, especially in its sequences involving guns and the 'cool' portrayal of 'masculinity' surrounding them, but I don't think this is the case. By portraying every scene in the same 'flat' way, the feature opens itself up to analysis, which is necessary on the part of every viewer - or at least those willing to think, and invites interpretation and critique, not of itself but of the choices of its characters. Speaking of characters, this features some of the most deplorable characters in any of Scorsese's work. These mostly arise in the latter movement of the piece, surrounding Jodie Foster's child prostitute character, and the moments including them are uncomfortable to say the least. As is the implication that more of them exist within the city, unseen but ready to crawl from beneath the surface or having just scuttled back down below. The feature is disturbing, especially in these harsher sequences, but it never crosses the line. It just maintains its method of being as candid as possible, portraying its seedy situations and asking us to do the judging for it. These moments don't make it hard to understand our protagonist's mindset that the city is filled with scum, though. Speaking of our protagonist, 'Travis Bickle' is easily one of the most unique and well-realised characters ever put to film. He certainly isn't a hero, he isn't even an anti-hero, but he also isn't a villain. He's just a man struggling, alone, to cope with his mental-illness and otherwise keep himself afloat. His deterioration from lonely and despondent to angry and disturbed, ultimately homicidal, is a compelling and engaging one. You like him and want him to be okay, but the events of the film weigh down on his already damaged psyche and turn his disillusion to all-out rage. The delusion that his violence could be motivated by pseudo altruism, a need to save - or 'clean' - his city, is one that only serves his need to justify his actions. He needs to act out his newfound impulses for no-one other than himself. Whether his first attempt fails due to extenuating circumstances as it appears or if it is due to his conscience is up for debate, as is if he wants to 'save' anyone at all. What isn't, is that he needs to act out his urges on someone, and he just so happens to do it on the right people. That's the only way he could ever be labelled a 'hero', and dangerously so. The 'downward spiral' arc isn't often done, though, and that, along with the fact it is done so deftly, is why it is so captivating to watch. The structure of the overall piece is unconventional, too, with a dream-like feel compounding its sort of 'aimed aimless' vibe. The performances and writing are excellent, both combining to make one of the most nuanced characters in film history. For me, this is the definitive Robert De Niro role. He should have won an Oscar for his work here. The two-handed score is phenomenal, as well. It combines flashes of our lead's possibly traumatic past with another character's certainly traumatic present, foreshadowing their fateful meeting. The direction is great, too, and serves to add to the effect that we are peeking into a man's life, a man who could be living next door. That makes the film quite scary. It's also sublime. A fantastic piece of work that's subversive, unconventional, uncomfortable and deeply effecting. 8/10