The Movie: Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese
Recommendation: DKS
Reason: It's the Jodie Foster fan catchup we've got going, but also, it's Taxi Driver. I should've seen this long ago.
Taxi Driver is the tale of Travis Bickle, an angel of death trapped or sent to a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. Scorsese's New York oozes sleaze and corruption, with only a paper-thin facade in place to falsify some sense of normalcy. New York seems to be Scorsese's modelling clay-from that city, he can evoke powerful imagery, whether the city is at the cusp of its birth (Gangs of New York) or reverberating with the wounded mood of the time (Taxi Driver). It is the quintessential city, practically the definition of the word in North America. New York is an essential character, as important as Easy, Wizard, even Travis.
Travis himself is a tortured and tormented symbol. Not quite a martyr to the sickness, he is instead a cure. Through the descent into madness, he struggles for goodness. He tries to find it, he tries to create it, and finally he decides it's time to die for it. DeNiro and Scorsese created a man who wasn't just a well acted, well rounded character, they created a man who symbolized the helplessness of the situation so many found themselves in at the time. Travis Bickle may not have been real, but the multitudes of wounded veterans of the Vietnam War were. The stories that came from that generation resonate even now, and I'm glad for films like Taxi Driver and Jacob's Ladder.
As usual, Scorsese's camerawork is spectacular. The movement he uses, the placement of his framing both subtly carry the viewers along Travis' charge towards dementia. In some places, the camera seems to be us, turning away as the scene becomes unbearable. In others, it is Travis, reflecting on the world around him. This movie was incredible, as impactful as Raging Bull. I'm glad I got to see it.
-162/365 down, 203/365 to go
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