Big name directors haven't done too well recently. Over the last year or so, ever reliable filmmakers like Michael Mann and David Fincher have been found lacking. Most recently Peter Jackson misfired with The Lovely Bones, a film he should have knocked out of the park. It's with a certain degree of hesitation then that one of the greatest living directors should return.
Martin Scorsese's last fiction feature was The Departed in 2006, the film that finally won him the best director Oscar. This time, loosely sticking with the crime genre that has served him so well throughout his career, he moves away from the stylised realism of his previous effort and into B-Movie territory. Adapted from Dennis Lehane's (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone) novel of the same name, Shutter Island combines elements of Gothic horror, psychological thriller and film noir to create a patchwork quilt of a movie -- obvious yet intricate.
The Story of Shutter Island
In 1954, US Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner, Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), arrive on Shutter Island. They are there to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer) from Ashecliff Hospital, a home for the criminally insane. Soon it becomes apparent to Teddy that things are not what they seem on the island, and people like Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley) know more than what they're letting on. To make matters worse, Teddy becomes increasingly haunted by visions of his dead wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams).
Scorsese Does Genre
From the opening few minutes of Shutter Island, as Teddy and Chuck arrive at the island on a boat and then enter the gates of the Arkham Asylum-like Ashecliff,it's clear that Scorsese is having a ball. The immaculately slow pacing of events combined with the overbearing and self conscious assembled musical score signal that Teddy is walking into a world of pain, and the audience is about to be taken for a ride with him. Film references from Powell and Pressburger to Hitchcockreverberate throughout, but this isn't some Grindhouse exercise in style, for the film draws on film history to ask some piercing questions about the human condition.
From a technical perspective the film is every bit as well put together as would be expected of a Scorsese. His direction is exemplary -- the ominous angles, the portentous camera moves, the haunting compositions. Long time collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker's editing gives the film a style not just reminiscent of the past, but feeling like it was made 50 years ago. DiCaprio, now on his fourth film with Scorsese, puts in another mature performance as Teddy. Every line he utters, every movement he makes is thought out and assured. He looks and acts every bit the classical Hollywood movie star.
A Little Too Conventional?
A person's enjoyment of the film will come down to their fondness for the genres Shutter Island inhabits. The film is very predictable, telegraphing its denouement so obviously throughout that come the end very few will be surprised with the final revelation. In fact for the observant, the end can be approximated within 2 minutes of the start. The film wilfully doesn't rely on its twist though. Its construction is vertical not horizontal, built through layers of meaning that all come back to DiCaprio's character. The slightness of the story is the point, enabling the mise-en-scéne to vocalise the deeper meaning as much as either dialogue or plot. It's a film that will reward repeated viewings.
Some may take issue with how conventional the story is, while others will delight in its cinematic reflectiveness, but by today's filmmaking standards, Shutter Island is very unusual. It isn't filled with endless visual effects. It doesn't go for cheap scares. What it does is put style and story in service of character. Scorsese and his team have shown the younger generation how to make a Gothic drama. And they did this by looking respectfully to the past. Other directors take note.
Rhys Bendix-Lewis - Rhys attended Aberystwyth University, completing both a Film & Television Studies BA and Scriptwriting (Screen & Radio) MA. During this ...
