While I was in NYC last month I saw several advertisements around subways in midtown for the new Scorcese tour-de-darkness Shutter Island. Generally being a fan of Scorcese and Dicaprio (and lets face it - midtown too), I was very keen to get myself to the cinema once I arrived back in Australia to watch it.
Yesterday I had just such an opportunity.
A group of friends and I trekked to the cinema in Norwood, and student IDs in hand, purchased the cheapest 'cheap-Tuesday' tickets we could get. Tuesday afternoon in early March is a very good time to watch a film at the cinema. Its either going to be uni students overtly aware of the irony and freedom we enjoy in schedule and responsibility, or older (elderly? senior?) people who are just kicking the same vibe but perhaps in a more pure and unfettered way.
I had no idea what the film was about, other than a friend had told me it had "really messed with Leo's head" and that it was about an island. God I love knowing nothing before things happen. We sat in the cinema as a group of 5, swelling the meagre audience from 4 to 9. Quiet, dark, and with no crowd to reassure you, it was going to be isolating or intense, or more hopefully - both.
Shutter Island begins with a film noir classic setup, as a US Marshall on a boat wearing a great coat and an awful tie, meeting his new partner and sharing a cigarette. The image of the 2 men on the boat, shot from the front and then behind, in Dick Tracey hats and hands on hips is a beautiful one and effectively informs the viewer that as with most film noir and classic detective stories - all is not well in the world.
The scripting and performances were excellent reminding me of some of the more adversarial moments from The Departed and in some ways thats what the movie is - a constant battle of wills from start to finish. As the onion is unpeeled layer by layer, the audience find themselves unable to find sure footing in such rocky plot and character-driven terrain. A lot of the time, the critical viewer simply does not know what is going on despite every effort to understand.
One of the things I liked most about Shutter Island, were the highly crafted and stylised dream sequences. Few shots in my film watching history have held my attention so completely as the creepy but beautiful frames starring (creepy but beautiful) Michelle Williams. Scorcese could have left them out, or simply alluded to them (waking in fright etc) but these sequences are the perfect device for ratcheting up the tension and really (REALLY) manipulating the audience's emotions.
All in all, Shutter Island is brilliant, though not for everyone. So in this way its weakness to some people, will be its triumph to others. In a world where people are savvy enough to generally guess the story arc with all its ins and outs within about 15 minutes of the film beginning, Shutter Island is a deliciously dark treat for the more cynical movie-goer.
Oh, and the score is beautiful and haunting.
Scorcese you old dog, you've done it again but better than you have for a long time.
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