Hats off to Marty for crafting such a kinetic, superbly entertaining movie. If this is his year for the Oscar (and it almost surely is), then he deserves it on the merits of this film alone, and not just for everything he's done up to now, which would have been the case had he taken it for The Aviator or Gangs of New York.

Of course, we all know he should have won for Raging Bull instead of Redford for Ordinary People, but as fellow blogger Jeffrey Wells once put it, that doesn't mean you give him an "I'm sorry we screwed up," Oscar for a pic that doesn't deserve it. I believe he compared it to giving Hitchcock the Oscar for Torn Curtain, and he's right.

But with The Departed, he's genuinely earned it. The film is adapted from a Japanese crime film called Infernal Affairs, which I haven't seen but have heard is also very good. Still, it's amazing that William Monahan's script could transplant this story from Hong Kong and make it feel so completely rooted in Boston's Irish-Catholic roots. That element alone separates this from Scorsese's other mob movies and gives it a pulse all its own.

The story follows two moles: Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan, a young boy seduced by the power of mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) who joins the state police, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Costigan, a good kid from a bad family who joins the force only to be put undercover in Costello's gang. Among the things the two have in common, besides their double lives, is Madolyn (well played by Vera Farmiga), a psychiatrist who treats them both (though unaware that Billy is undercover) and winds up seriously involved with Sullivan, but only casually with Billy. Before long, that cat and mouse game between the two heats up, culminating in a brilliant moment when Sullivan gets Billy's number and calls him, and for several breathless beats each stays on the phone waiting for the other to say something, each suspecting the truth about the person on the other end.

To say much more about the story would give too much away for anyone who hasn't seen it, and if you're one of those people, run- don't walk- to the nearest theatre still showing it, because it's worth seeing on the big screen. Truly, Scorsese is at the top of his game here. I have no doubt that his artistic influences vary between his childhood in New York and his Catholic upbringing, and he's expressed many of those influences in many films, but it's wrong for him to deny that his true oeuvre is the modern gangster picture (Coppola still takes the cake for period gangster movies, and probably always will). After trying to make an artistically relevant film with The Aviator, Departed feels like the director's sigh of relief. Freed from the constraints of trying to make a great movie, he lets his camera- and the blood- fly, and the result is a great movie that feels totally natural and effortless.

I can't say enough about the energy of the film, which is due in no small part to Thelma Schoonmaker's editing. At 67, Scorcese's long-time editor (the two starting working together on Raging Bull) feels just as reenrgized as he does. Between them they've constructed the film with that perfect Eisenstein-ian balance of cutting between different images to create an emotional effect on the audience, sometimes out of sequence, as well as to create tension. It's the way an Oliver Stone movie would look if he wasn't tweaking on something (God alone knows what) all the time. Even though she's already got two statues, Thelma deserves one this year just as much as he does.

Posted in Awards Shows , Industry , Moviegasm , Newsgasm by Sutter Cane at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Last Comment: sutter kane on Feb 27, 2007 09:03 PM.

Comments (5)

B-Side :

Great review. Although, personally, I was fine with all those plot twists in the end. Also, I liked the hinted-at sexual frustration. It was one of many subtle things in the movie that were suggested but never explained, letting the viewer fill in the gaps. After all, this is a movie about never quite knowing the entirety of the situation. I think it deserves Best Picture of the nominees I've seen (I haven't seen Letters from Iwo Jima), but I understand that the gritty nature of the film and some people's lack of enthusiasm for the third act twists might impede The Departed's success. It's a shame. The movie was totally exhilirating, and I do think it actually spoke to larger themes -- loyalty, one's station in life, etc.. Sadly, I saw it back in October; so I can't go on at length about the finer points of the movie since it's cloudy for me now. But I'll watch it again and bone up on it. Then I'll be able to argue with the best of 'em.

1 of 5 | Posted by B-Side | Posted on February 14, 2007 11:42 PM

minda07 :

I saw this movie on opening weekend and I loved it. I heard somewhere that Jack imroved most of his role - I don't know if he did or not but if he did my love for Leo in this movie only gross. I think Mark deserves his Oscar nod. He stands out in a movie full of vivid characters. I believe on tuesday it comes out on dvd - and I can not wait to own it. I have a feeling the more you watch this movie the more you will love it!

2 of 5 | Posted by minda07 | Posted on February 15, 2007 9:17 AM

minda07 :

That would be "improved" and "grows" instead of gross. oops!

3 of 5 | Posted by minda07 | Posted on February 15, 2007 9:19 AM

samurai9999 :

5nfernal Affairs is incorrectly being cited as a Japanese film. It was a film made in Hong Kong. Being a foreign film buff, I am sick of Hollywood stealing the thunder of foreign films especiall y without giving proper attention to the original film. I don't need to see The Departed but should I maybe one day when I get bored I will watch it.

4 of 5 | Posted by samurai9999 | Posted on February 26, 2007 2:51 PM

sutter kane :

You're absolutely right, Samurai, and I apologize for the mistake. I'm curious, though, do you mean that Hollywood fails to give proper attention to foreign originals or the American public? I think studios do a decent job of giving foreign films they are remaking a limited release to help build buzz (although not for Infernal Affairs), but I think the public just views movies with subtitles as either intimidating or elitist. That's a mistake, as they're often superbly entertaining, but I have to fight tooth and nail to get friends, even fellow film buffs, to watch something like Ju-On or The Devil's Backbone.

5 of 5 | Posted by sutter kane | Posted on February 27, 2007 9:03 PM

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