Last night we watched the long hailed De Niro /Scorsese classic Taxi Driver. Comcast Cable has actually been putting some free movies on its On Demand list, some are unwatchable but some are worth a shot. That's what I thought about Taxi Driver. We had heard of it a million times but never saw it. I was only three when it came out and here I am almost thirty years later finally seeing it. I don't know why I bothered.
You ever have one of those? Some movie is HIGHLY recommended by your friends or the critics and you finally watch it and just don't understand the praise. That was this movie for Amy and me.
Yes, De Niro had a nice performance but I swear that I've seen him better. Once I looked it up online this morning, some of Scorsese's camera shots were de-mystified. The sharp contrast between the empty hallway and the slow-motion rampage now makes sense. I still am left wondering.
Amy said, "I can see why it is a favorite of filmmakers." And I understand her point. I see it as a perfect analogy to this book often praised by English professors but the common person just cannot read it: James Joyce's Ulysses. They all say it is wonderful masterpiece but unless you can talk about the stream of consciousness versus a straight narrative, you get completely lost in how it is supposedly so good. Ulysses is the book that English teachers talk about but never read. Taxi Driver is the movie that critics talk about.
I can see why the movie is discussed. But one of the best of all time? I just don't see that.
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