Review of Taxi Driver (1954) by Matthew C — 23 Sep 2016

This movie is about a man who believes he is right in a city of wrong. He thinks that everyone else is immoral, or wrong. He believes that kids should be in school, and has lost such attachment to reality that he enters adult theaters just for fun. He wants to save people. But who is he?

He is Travis Bickle, and he is the center of an intense character study. Don't come looking for an intense action thriller-come for an intelligent look into a crumbling mind, one which thinks it is the moral authority, fantasizing of being a savior through murder. Only an insane person could think this way, and Travis is, no doubt, insane. But why? Because his environment, a crime riddled New York, made him this way. After coming back from a tour of duty, to a "filthy" New York, no wonder he had serious issues. Practicing over and over how to kill people, how to kill a politician, how to kill pimps. But in the end, it all comes to naught, as seen in the ending. Nothing can prepare him for what awaits in the hotel.

The acting is some of the best. Just, best ever. Robert de Niro gives a phenomenal portrayal of a man who's falling apart, and regardless of the bad things he plans to do, he earns an amazing amount of sympathy with his little tics and overall good ideals. The cinematography is vibrant and beautiful, with colors popping out and staying on shots just long enough to keep attention. Some shots would drag in other, less capable films, but Martin Scorsese and Michael Chapman know when and when not to cut a shot. The sound design is eerily off-putting, with unexpected jazz throughout making the film feel like it's going one direction, then veering off in another. The music during the hotel shootout is just perfect. And finally, the writing is AMAZING. Never before have I seen such seemingly cliche dialogue been made so organic and flowing by talented actors and actresses.

I entered this movie the wrong way. I was expecting an action thriller, but that's not the point. The point is to sympathize with a morally middling person who might shift from good to bad very quickly, and maybe even understand them. The closest comparison I can make is Drive, a film about a man who wants to change his life, sees an opportunity, and is nearly killed-but(debatably) lives. The simularities are loose enough to not ruin either film, but close enough to appreciate them. I don't understand the ending, and I don't want to just look it up. I want to decipher it, until I can truly understand the real genius of Taxi Driver.