Capsule: "Shutter Island"

"The fuck you jus call me bish?"

Have you seen many Hitchcock films? "Vertigo?" "Pyscho?" "North by Northwest?" "Strangers of a Train?" Hitchcock's films all had a keen ability of taking their preposterous thriller concepts — the wrong man, the frailty of the mind, the sense of life and death at every corner — and tell them in such creatively visual and visceral ways, that there became a reason for the term "Hitchcockian." A unique vision of unbelievable events unfolded, that is essential to the thriller genre. Truffaut delineated Hitch. Raimi dry humps him. And Martin Scorsese is probably the smartest and most capable man of recreating Hitch.

But nothing will ever be like Hitchcock.

You can come very close, and people have tried to emulate the style, but why is it that Hitchcock is allowed only unto himself? I would argue that the reason he's never been perfectly emulated, is because that every thriller alluding to the man becomes postmodern, and neo-Hitch. It's not Hitch, but just a loving homage, rendered awkward only by its need to differentiate itself. Like the initial reactions to "Psycho" breaking all the rules by making the killer motivation-less beyond madness. When Hitch became aware of his own mold, he began to reinvent himself, change his formula a bit, and it just didn't work. Same could be said with "Shutter Island."

That, and "Shutter Island" has crap CGI, crap facial hair and a to-be-determined-whether-not-it's-crap finale. It's still pretty awesome and intriguing, just, maybe I have to see it again to get the full flavor?

I'm sorry, have I wasted enough of your time on Hitchcock?

Imagine if you will, a very Hitchcockian film — complete with all the stylistic amenities and themes of obsession/psychoses — going to med or psych school. Think "Vertigo" in a looney bin. Yeah, that's the best way to describe "Shutter Island" I think. A loving hybrid of American noir, psychological thriller and Hitchcockian pastiche with an understanding of modern medicine, "Shutter Island" is a mostly satisfying foray into the mind.

Let's lock this up shall we?:

- Martin Scorsese is a master scholar in film appreciation, no doubt. But kinda like "New York, New York," the guy's ploughing through genres with too specific an attention to detail, that this isn't his film. That's not a complaint, but rather a concern about this film's integrity, like he thought his obvious nods could get him through. Well, aping Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak gets him almost all the way through. Scorsese just feels out of place. His "Cape Fear" was successfully simple in its straightforward story. But when you start dealing with psychology in a thriller, you're already working too hard to elicit tension. I'll show his superior lift of Hitch below.

- Leonardo was miscast, unfortunately. A shame too, as I'm ready to give him a second pass for "The Aviator." Here he's too young (again) and too intense for a period piece. "Departed's" still his best. But watch out for the stellar support from Ted Levine, Max Von Sydow and Ben Kingsley, just to name a few.

- The superlative attention to detail in the production is hurt only by the minor flubs in technical quality, and vice versa. Production and costume design are great, but like "Aviator," dere's some CG a floating around that throws you out of the moment. The editing is seemingly in disarray, but totally intentional. The photography has at times a perfectly smoky and high contrast quality — which is then hurt by really noticeable flaired edges around actors in front of green screen. Seriously! It takes you out and you will notice!

- Robbie Robertson of The Band was music supervisor, and man, is the soundtrack the best part. Robertson uses creepy and etherial modern classical to pad the film with a nice sense of foreboding and doom. I'll post a sample below.

- The conclusion will likely be a point of contention for people. Oh, it makes sense once you reflect on the film, and Scorsese commits to explain every detail ... but to what purpose? I know, don't spoil the end. But come on, it's hard to get away with. We'll talk later K?

So yeah, a solid B from Marty by way from Hitchcock.

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"The Key to Reserva" (2007) - An unfinished piece of Hitchcock screenplay is made by Scorsese, as Hitchcock would. I'd been to do this as a "Post Stuff" anyways. Yes I know it's a Champaigne ad. Totally, absolutely worth 10 minutes:

Freixenet - The Key To Reserva
Uploaded by tvspot.

Added Bonus: Music from "Shutter Island," the masterful György Ligeti's "Lontano." His music from "2001" still freaks me out.