Review of Taxi Driver (1976) by Manicure — 22 Nov 2020

"Taxi Driver" is a sarcastic yet powerful character study of a discharged US Marine vet who is slowly falling into depression as "the days move along with regularity, over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next".

Travis Blicke finds himself working as a cabbie after having fought a highly unpopular war in Vietnam, and can't help noticing the moral corruption and cruel, alienating society he had been loyally serving. Rejected and misunderstood by anyone, he turns into a psychotic and delusional vigilante with the aim of washing away the scum on the streets of New York. Travis' metamorphosis is portrayed with cynism and irony: his training and suicide mission look are shown without cinematic glamour. He is self-aware and with ideals, yet always seems clumsy. Ironically, he is proclaimed as a hero only after breaking the law and causing a bloodbath, despite having worked for years as a soldier. Once he gets on the news, the girl who previously rejected him suddenly wants another chance.

New York as shown through Travis' eyes has a gritty, smokey atmosphere that almost makes it look charming, with that jazzy score repeating all over again to symbolize the metropolitan alienation.

A bit monotonous at times but still a must-see film by a brilliant director.