The 80th birthday of Martin Scorsese and the secrets of his direction

Scorsese blows out 80 candles, spending more than half of his life behind the camera. Here are some curiosities about the most Italian director of all and a video that reveals the secrets of his direction

The Two Faces of Vengeance (One-Eyed Jacks), directed by and starring Marlon Brando, is one of his favorite films. He has a deep bond of esteem and friendship with Fran Lebowitz. His photos of a few years in the company of Bertrand Tavernier And Mark Bellocchio went around the world. We are obviously talking about the giant Martin Scorsese who turned 80. Recognized and loved as the most important director of his era, he has a distinctive and recognizable trait in almost all of his films: the images and the music dialogue in a perfect and captivating way. But not only; in the video of Study Binder that we propose, are summarized in five points the fundamental secrets of Scorsese’s direction.

SEMINAR, DOCUMENTARY, ACTION MOVIE

Martin Scorsese’s was and is a cinema made up of solitudes, obsessions, continuous dialogues and investigations into power. He grew up in Little Italy in NYC and at 14 he entered the seminary to then change his mind, maintain a deep bond with Catholic morality and embrace the cinematographic faith. Self Who’s knocking on my door? (1969) is his debut feature film, he first approached the seventh art through the documentary genre, an experience that brought him closer to iconic characters of the time and that opened many doors for him. His name is often found next to the perfect description of the action-movie, but are we really able to establish which is the best film of him? In over 60 years of honored career it is almost impossible to name one: certainly Taxi Driver, wild bull And The Goodfellas are among the most celebrated by critics and the public. And if we said that the most authentic Martin Scorsese is the one behind the camera of Rolling Thunder Revue? This is the documentary in which through love, boxing, the fight for justice, culture, the America of yesterday and today, Scorsese tells Bob Dylan. A film in which he indulges in pure enjoyment that is unconventional for him.

ITALIAN CINEMA AND PASOLINI

Scorsese is a director deeply tied to his origins, there are those who define it “the most Italian of all” and he also has a sincere relationship with the cinema of the Belpaese. Among his favorite titles are The adventure from Michelangelo Antonioni, The Leopard from Luchino Visconti, The place from Ermanno Olmi, Italian divorce of Germs. Films that have been a school and inspiration for him. Among them is also Beggar from Pier Paolo Pasoliniof which he said: “I saw this film for the first time during the New York Film Festival, in 1963, and it was a very strong experience for me – declares the director – I grew up in a rough neighborhood, and this was the first film in which I was able to identify with the protagonists. At the time I had no idea who Pasolini was, but I understood those characters, and most of all I was struck by the sanctity of the film. I find the ending wonderful, where popular and lowly characters approach a higher spirituality. Accattone is a pimp, but Pasolini has him die between two thieves, with one of the two making the sign of the cross upside down. I learned a great deal from Pasolini’s combination of these elements, and also from his use of music. He uses a sacred composition, he uses Bach, to describe his characters, and this is something that I brought back to Casino. All of this to me implies that people on the street, through their own suffering, are closer to Christ than those higher up.”

Margherita Bordino



The 80th birthday of Martin Scorsese and the secrets of his direction