Episode 197: Martin Scorsese : The Cinephile

## Show Notes

We discuss Martin Scorsese's love for movies, how that love has affected his own work and the essential preservation work he's spearheaded with his World Film Foundation. We also focus on two films Scorsese helped give new life: Ahmed El Maanouni's music documentary TRANCES (1981) and Michael Powell's disturbing horror picture PEEPING TOM (1960)
## Films Discussed

* Directed by Martin Scorsese
	+ *Mean Streets* (1973)
	+ *The Last Waltz* (1978)
	+ *King of Comedy* (1982)
	+ *After Hours* (1985)
	+ *The Color of Money* (1986)
	+ *Goodfellas* (1990)
	+ *Cape Fear* (1991)
	+ *The Age of Innocence* (1993)
	+ *Casino* (1995)
	+ *A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies* (1995)
	+ *Kundun* (1997)
	+ *My Voyage To Italy* (1999)
	+ *The Aviator* (2004)
	+ *The Departed* (2006)
	+ *Shine a Light* (2008)
	+ *Shutter Island* (2010)
	+ *Silence* (2016)
	+ *The Irishman* (2019)
* *Duel in the Sun* (1946) Dir. King Vidor
* *Force of Evil* (1948) Dir. Abraham Polonsky
* *Black Narcissus* (1947) Dir. Michael Powell
* *Red Shoes* (1948) Dir. Michael Powell
* *White Heat* (1949) Dir. Raoul Walsh
* *The River* (1951) Dir. Jean Renoir
* *The Bandwagon* (1953) Dir. Vincente Minnelli
* *Johnny Guitar* (1954) Dir. Nicholas Ray
* *The Searchers* (1956) Dir. John Ford
* *Peeping Tom* (1960) Dir. Michael Powell
* *Psycho* (1960) Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
* *Jules and Jim* (1962) Dir. François Truffaut
* *The Nutty Professor* (1963) Dir. Jerry Lewis
* *El Dorado* (1966) Dir. Howard Hawks
* *Touki Bouki* (1973) Dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty
* *Trances* (1981) Dir. Ahmed El Maanouni
* *Fitzcarraldo* (1982) Dir. Werner Herzog
* *Lust in the Dust* (1985) Dir. Paul Bartel
* *Taipei Story* (1985) Edward Yang
* *Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe* (1990) Dir. Damian Lee
* *The Day A Pig Fell Into A Well* (1996) Dir. Hong Sang-soo
* *Myserious Objects at Noon* (2000) Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
* *Sympathy for Mr Vengeance* (2002) Dir. Park Chan-wook
* *Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin* (2003) Dir. Richard Schickel
* *Oldboy* (2003) Dir. Park Chan-wook
* *Lady Vengeance* (2005) Dir. Park Chan-wook
* *Speed Racer* (2008) Dir. The Wachowskis
* *A Perfect Getaway* (2009) David Twohy
* *King Cohen* (2017) Dir. Steve Mitchell
* *The Souvenir* (2019) Dir. Joanna Hogg
* *Underwater* (2020) Dir. William Eubank

## Discussion Notes

* Will does his Scorsese impression
* How do you talk about Scorsese without being boring? Like this!
* Scorsese
	+ Advocate and ambassador for goodness in cinema
	+ Holds film as a sacred and profane art
	+ Intrigued with the way that sex and rage boils under the surface of a character
	+ Has appeared in hundreds of film documentaries
	+ His NYU film class list - a collection of disreputable films that are now 'canon
* World Cinema Project
	+ A mission to preserver and make available films from countries where preservation is not a priority
* The Film Foundation
	+ Dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema
		- Fifty percent of the films made before 1950 are gone completely
		- Studios don't care about their old films - if it has no perceived monetary value, it goes in the trash

* *Trances*
	+ Documentary about traveling Moroccan band
	+ Scorsese was attracted to the films soundscape and the 'electricity' of the concert footage
		- he first saw it on late night TV while editing *King of Comedy*
	+ Justin: it's "a picture into something that you would otherwise never see"
* *A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies*
	+ Explores the balance of art and commerce
	+ Scorsese adapts his work to a genre, but follows his own muse
		- He is attracted to the the disreputable side of film
* *Peeping Tom*
	+ Explores voyeurism and how we are affected by emotion in movies
	+ Killed Michael Powell's career, and was regarded widely as trash
		- Our hosts theorize that it was so good looking that people were shocked to see violence in this way and were disgusted
			* Contrasted with Psycho, which looked almost TV movie/B-movie, appropriately 'dirty'
	+ Played a lot in American theaters in black and white instead of color
	+ Redistributed on new prints with the help of Scorsese

## Listener Letters

* Lucinda Mason
	+ Asks our hosts for Indian cinema recommendations
		- *Mother India* (1957) Dir. Mehboob Khan
		- *Sholay* (1975) Dir. Ramesh Sippy
		- *Dhoom* 2 (2006) Dir. Sanjay Gadhvi
		- *Don* (2006) Dir. Farham Akhtar
		- *Om Shanti Om* (2007) Dir. Farah Khan
		- *Amar Akbar Anthony* (2018) Dir. Sreenu Vaitla
		- *Saaho* (2019) Dir. Sujeeth
		- *Sye Raa Narashima Reddy* (2019) Dir. Surender Reddy
		- *Bigil* (2019) Dir. Atlee Kumar
		- *Dangal* (2016) Dir. Nitesh Tiwari
		- *War* (2019) Dir. Siddarth Anand
		- *Kaithi* (2019) Dir. Lokesh Kanagaraj
	+ *Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Star!* by DK - book

* Letter Writer
	+ Ranking systems - how do you feel about them?
	+ The ICC Star system
		- 1 - A failure
		- 2 - I don't recommend it, but there are images on the screen
		- 3 - If your really want to see it, see it (a Will 2-star)
		- 3.5 - Fun if you are interested
		- 4 - Check it out! A recommendation
		- 5 - Perfect! Loved it!

## Post-Outro Discussion

* Oscar nominations are out!
* Who cares any more?
	+ We would if Adam Sandler had a chance to win
* Academy voters: they're old!
* *Uncut Gems* vs. *The Two Popes*
	+ Accessible Netflix material vs. film twitter echo chamber gold!