Review of Mean Streets (1973) by Rod A — 04 Nov 2009
Watching Mean Streets this time around, I pretended that I had never seen any other films directed by Mr. Scorsese. There was no Travis Bickle, no Jake La Motta, no Goodfellas nor Departed. With all of that out of my mind, I was moved by the energy, eye for detail and inventiveness of this early effort.
Scorsese creates a world of tension coupled with a desire to find redemption and escape. If his other films have an operatic scale, this one is akin to a well-executed short story. De Niro is so fresh and unpredictable here.
He loses himself in the unstable Johnny Boy. Because Scorsese is aiming to show the conflict and pressures that go into being born into an impossible situation, he takes tremendous care to define the separate worlds tugging at Keitel's character.
Because of all the rich detail, we feel like we're there. We feel Keitel's frustration and desire to change.
This review of Mean Streets (1973) was written by Rod A on 04 Nov 2009.
Mean Streets has generally received very positive reviews.
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