Martin Scorsese Wants You to Watch 'Nightmare Alley' on the Big Screen
Martin Scorsese is urging you to participate in one of the best films of the year.
We're no strangers to Martin Scorsese's open letters around here. We took part in the great Scorsese v. Marvel debate and we're always interested in his works directing, restoring old movies, and world cinema.
Recently, Scorsese wrote a column in the Los Angeles Times urging people to get off the couch and head out to see Guillermo del Toro'sNightmare Alley.
In the column, Scorsese lauds del Toro for releasing this kind of movie. One that understands the Hollywood noir history as well as one that pushes the boundaries of what we can do today.
Scorsese writes, "In that sense, the film is truer to the animating spirit of film noir than the many 'homages' that have been made over the years and are still being made now. Guillermo is certainly speaking from and to his own time, but he’s doing so in the idiom of a time gone by, and the urgency and despair of then overlaps with the urgency and despair of now in a way that’s quite disturbing. It’s like a warning bell. Disturbing, but exhilarating at the same time. That’s what art can do."
Of course, Scorsese does acknowledge the COVID-19 of it all. It's been so hard to get traction on particularly great titles thanks to the pandemic. But it seems like the more we see these movies fall short in audience presence, the rarer they will have studio support.
So if you're willing to see movies theatrically right now, and care about cinema as a whole, it might behoove you to sit down and check this film out, even if noir is not your personal favorite.
Scorsese finished, "If you decided to just file Nightmare Alley away under 'noir' or some other category, I would urge you to take a second closer look. And if you decided to skip it altogether, for whatever reason, please reconsider. In essence, what I’m trying to say is that a filmmaker like Guillermo, who gives us pictures this lovingly and passionately crafted, doesn’t just need our support: he deserves it."
Have you checked the movie out? I did and loved it. Tell me what you thought in the comments.
