The Departed (Martin Scorsese 2006)
Posted on January 04 at 9.46, 2007 by Eric Mahleb
There is very little I can say about The Departed, other than it is pretty much a perfect film directed by one of the true masters of modern cinema.
Scorsese is back and while The Departed may miss the perfection level of Goodfellas by a hair, it still is, I believe, one of the best thrillers ever made with one of the most furious paces and rhythms I have ever experienced in a film.
I wonder if Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong film on which The Departed is based, is as good as its remake…
Unmissable.
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3 Responses to “The Departed”
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Valdis Says:
April 16, 2007 at 23.41You’re right about the rhythm, Eric, but I’m afraid I have to take a star away from Marty for re-using “Gimmie Shelter.”
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No Country for Old Men - Quiet Please - Film reviews by Eric Mahleb Says:
February 14, 2008 at 12.13[...] Enter the Cohen Brothers, the entity that might be known one day as one of the best director in the history of cinema. Forget Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and forget The Ladykillers (2004), two mediocre films that do little to tarnish an otherwise spectacular filmography. The Cohen brothers are back on top and while it is difficult, and probably inappropriate, to compare such a hard and dark film with some of their previous work, this latest effort is nonetheless as good a film as they have ever made. No Country for Old Men has an intensity and rhythm that reminded me of the recent Scorcese, The Departed (2006). No fluff, no silly and excessive music, no unnecessary dialog, no gratuitous scenes, no let down in the strength of the performances, only tight and solid directing, scripting, and acting (and beautiful cinematography as well). Many have spoken about the performance of Josh Brolin as a career defining role (good enough apparently to convince Oliver Stone to want to cast him as George W. Bush in Stone’s next biopic), or about Tommy Lee Jones’ convincing turn as a laconic and delusioned Sheriff (one can’t help but to try to create a connection between this character and the one he played a couple of years ago in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)) but I personally would like to single out Javier Bardem in what i consider to be one of the best villain performance of all time. I can’t remember the last time the character of a madman was so brilliantly and realistically depicted on screen (perhaps Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, or Ralf Fiennes in Schindler’s List). I still get chills down my spine thinking about some of the killings in the film and about the character’s methods, which involve a mix of principles, sadism and intelligence. [...]
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The Happening - Cinema, Sci-Fi, Futurism, Technogaianism and other banalities by Eric Mahleb Says:
October 31, 2008 at 15.43[...] The Happening, about an unknown and never explained suicide-inducing toxin spreading across the North East of the US, has some good moments, especially in the first 30 minutes, and offers an interesting take on man vs nature. However, Shyamalan can not keep it up and proceeds to ruin the next 55 minutes by instering silly comic scenes whose purpose is a total mystery to me and by using so many cliches that one can not help but to feel that the director is trying very hard to scare us. The desire to scare overcomes to need to remain realistic with the result being that the viewer questions rather than feels. In addition, Mark Wahlberg, whom we know is capable of pulling some interesting performances as he did in The Departed (2006), feels totally lost and confused as a romantic scientist and the chemistry between him and Zooey Deschanel is equivalent to mixing bleach with vinegar. [...]