Great lowlife film

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2005)

The most interesting thing I found in it is the tender scene of Sport and Iris. I still couldn't figure out what exactly does it mean. It came from nowhere and took a long time and Sport looked so full of true love and compassionate to Iris and even the entire human race! I think that's the most unusual element. And Martin Scorsese's madness is also interesting, maybe that's what persuaded the killer finally made up his mind. When Travis pointed his gun to the mirror and talked ironically to himself: "You talking to me?!" I couldn't laugh, on the contrary I feel sympathy for him, maybe myself too. Good movies sometimes are like a mirror that reflects our own weakness. And the camera-work is brilliant, as hypnotic as the jazz score, and those slow motions which show us what Travis see with his tired eyes recall the beautiful opening of the Last Waltz. This film also reminds me a lot of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart. A young man who suffered from the material world, tried many solutions but all failed (When routine bites hard, and ambitions are low, and resentment rides high, but emotions won't grow), then he decided to do something really usually (And we're changing our ways, taking different roads). But is he saved? The streets were still dirty and Betsy's smile couldn't move him anymore. (Just that something so good just can't function no more) Even Iris's fate is doubtful, she just disappeared and left only those papers on the wall. (Then love, love will tear us apart again.)