Not satisfied until he completely obliterates the notion of anyone ever watching even one more superhero movie, Martin Scorsese is back to remind us — in praising another filmmaker's work — of the dying art of "cinema," a debate he sparked all the way back in 2019.
The auteur reiterated his hard stance on what does and does not constitute cinema at Wednesday (January 4) night's New York Film Critics Circle awards, where he presented the award for Best Picture to Todd Field for last year's TÁR.
"For so long now, so many of us see films that pretty much let us know where they're going," the director shared [via IndieWire], the subtext of which recalled his many previous disparaging comments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "I mean, they take us by the hand, and even if it's disturbing at times, sort of comfort us along the way that it will be all OK by the end."
He continued, "Now this is insidious, as one can get lulled into this, and ultimately get used to it. Leading those of us who've experienced cinema in the past — as much more than that — to become despairing of the future of the art form, especially for younger generations. But that's on dark days. The clouds lifted when I experienced Todd's film, TÁR."
The filmmaker continued to praise Field, saying that the "very fabric" of TÁR "doesn't allow this," making note of the movie's "shift in locations," and how it "reduce[s] space and time to what they are, which is nothing." Scorsese further described the film as a "high-wire act" that Field "conveyed through a masterful mise-en-scène, as controlled, precise, dangerous, precipitous angles, and edges geometrically kind of chiselled into a wonderful 2:3:5 aspect ratio of frame compositions."
He concluded, "The limits of the frame itself, and the provocation of measured long takes all reflecting the brutal architecture of her soul — TÁR's soul."
Whether or not Field counts himself among the Marvel detractors — including Denis Villeneuve, Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon-ho (kind of) and Benedict Cumberbatch, plus Leonardo DiCaprio and protégé Timothee Chalamet — remains to be seen.
Should he choose to defend the "dark" side, he'll find himself in the company of Samuel L. Jackson, Simu Liu, Danai Gurira, Nicolas Cage, Elizabeth Olsen, Robert Downey Jr. and James Gunn, among others.
The auteur reiterated his hard stance on what does and does not constitute cinema at Wednesday (January 4) night's New York Film Critics Circle awards, where he presented the award for Best Picture to Todd Field for last year's TÁR.
"For so long now, so many of us see films that pretty much let us know where they're going," the director shared [via IndieWire], the subtext of which recalled his many previous disparaging comments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "I mean, they take us by the hand, and even if it's disturbing at times, sort of comfort us along the way that it will be all OK by the end."
He continued, "Now this is insidious, as one can get lulled into this, and ultimately get used to it. Leading those of us who've experienced cinema in the past — as much more than that — to become despairing of the future of the art form, especially for younger generations. But that's on dark days. The clouds lifted when I experienced Todd's film, TÁR."
The filmmaker continued to praise Field, saying that the "very fabric" of TÁR "doesn't allow this," making note of the movie's "shift in locations," and how it "reduce[s] space and time to what they are, which is nothing." Scorsese further described the film as a "high-wire act" that Field "conveyed through a masterful mise-en-scène, as controlled, precise, dangerous, precipitous angles, and edges geometrically kind of chiselled into a wonderful 2:3:5 aspect ratio of frame compositions."
He concluded, "The limits of the frame itself, and the provocation of measured long takes all reflecting the brutal architecture of her soul — TÁR's soul."
Whether or not Field counts himself among the Marvel detractors — including Denis Villeneuve, Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon-ho (kind of) and Benedict Cumberbatch, plus Leonardo DiCaprio and protégé Timothee Chalamet — remains to be seen.
Should he choose to defend the "dark" side, he'll find himself in the company of Samuel L. Jackson, Simu Liu, Danai Gurira, Nicolas Cage, Elizabeth Olsen, Robert Downey Jr. and James Gunn, among others.
