Martin Scorsese

Each year, the Top League section presents the work of one prominent director. This year we will show selected works by the acclaimed and unique Martin Scorsese, who won an Oscar for directing “The Departed” in 2006 and a Palme d'Or for “Taxi Driver” (with the excellent Robert De Niro as the lead) and “After Hours,” has been laureate of the BAFTA award twice, as well as winner of multiple Golden Globes.
 
Born in 1942 in New York and raised in the Little Italy district, Scorsese already showed interest in cinema as a child. He has often talked about his little rituals – going to the movies with father. As he claims himself, that was the only thread of communication between them and one of the few topics for conversation. We can observe their relationship in one of this year's Top League films: “Italianamerican” from 1974. It is a very interesting and intimate story told from the perspective of the great director's parents. Apart from popular feature films, such as “Goodfellas,” “Shutter Island,” and the previously mentioned “Taxi Driver,” Scorsese shot a number of less known documentary films. We have decided to present them to you; “My voyage to Italy” and “Lady by the Sea: The Statue Of Liberty” are only two of them. To cut it short: this is a program for those who want to get to know Martin Scorsese and his work from a different angle. It is well worth it.
 
Filmography:
 
Mean Streets (1973)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
New York, New York (1977)
Raging Bull (1980)
The King of Comedy (1983)
After Hours (1985)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Casino (1995)
Kundun (1997)
Bringing Out The Dead (1999)
Gangs of New York (2002)
The Aviator (2004)
The Departed (2006)
Shutter Island (2010)
Hugo (2011)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Films

  • Bad18'

    An 18-minute music video starring Michael Jackson and Wesley Snipes, among others. The story of a boy named Daryl (Jackson). The youngster is on his way home from school and faces various difficulties that he tries to overcome. In his autobiography from 1988, Jackson writes: “Bad” is a song about the street. It's about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighborhood when he's on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood start giving him trouble. He sings, “I'm bad, you're bad, who's bad, who's the best?”

     

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  • George Harrison: Living in the Material World208'

    The history of “the boys from Liverpool,” told from a slightly different perspective. The director focuses on George Harrison – the Beatle who died in 2001. It is a very interesting story, due to the unorthodox narrative as well as the inclusion of talks with the greatest figures in the music and film world, and thanks to the previously unpublished archive material.

     

     

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  • Italianamerican49'

    Something perfect for the most passionate fans of Martin Scorsese. Produced in 1974, this film is his first documentary. The first and already so very intimate, revealing: it touches upon the issues of relations within the Scorsese family and uses them to exemplify the life of a Sicilian emigrant in America. Through this film we also learn Charles and Catherine Scorsese's views on religion, customs, fatherland, cuisine, and cooking. This is not a sentimental picture, but a source of interesting and inspiring facts from the life of the grand master's family and his loved ones.

     

     

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  • My Voyage To Italy246'

    A subjective review of works of Italian cinematography which influenced Martin Scorsese most. The director pays homage to his great compatriots: Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Visconti, and Antonioni (whose retrospective was presented at last year's Top League). “Roma, città aperta” (“Rome, Open City”), “Germania anno zero” (“Germany Year Zero”), “L'Eclisse” (“The Eclipse”), “8 ½,” and "L'Oro di Napoli” (“The Gold of Naples”) are just some of the pictures in question. Shot in traditional 35-mm format, the film is a collage of different genres: old newsreels, “home” videos, and, last but not least, the masterpieces of Italian cinema. This long film, over four hours in running time, is watched with excitement throughout, and that is thanks to the interesting, personal, and amusing commentary by Scorsese.

     

     

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  • Lady By The Sea: The Statue of Liberty55'

    A documentary film produced for the History Channel. The director goes back in time and analyses the influence that the Statue of Liberty has had on New Yorkers. He inspects what role it played in their lives after the tragedy of 9/11. Everything here seems to revolve around “Her” – the mysterious and majestic figure. With the passing of minutes, however, we realise that “She” and part of the history investigated by Martin Scorsese have a lot more to reveal.

     

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