Post-modern masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2006)

The very embodiment of a post-modern masterpiece, director Martin Scorsese's gritty hymn to big city desperation remains one of the most haunting films ever made. Robert De Niro is outstanding as the titular anti-hero. Driven to insanity by the rejection of the unobtainably beautiful Cybill Shepherd, and intent on saving child prostitute Jodie Foster, De Niro's mentally unstable Travis Bickle is the exact type of morally ambiguous character that becomes an insane murderer to some and a martyred hero to others. It is a difficult and risky maneuver to ask audiences to enter into the world of such an individual, but De Niro and Scorsese never make a single wrong turn in their attempt to provide an understanding, nonjudgmental view of such madness.
The film is intentionally filmed in very grainy, muted colors with relatively poor definition and contrast, which perfectly suits the film's uneasy subject matter. The atmosphere is so vivid, you'll swear you can smell the stench of the back alley garbage piles and the odor of freshly spray-painted graffiti. And De Niro's towering performance is far from the only standout in the cast, with Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Harvey Keitel all turning terrific work. This particularly true of Jodie Foster, who, at the right old age of 14, gives a performance of startling maturity and unsettling weariness.