Proper release date is July 11! Very excited to see it all put together (including my essay).
Categories
Archives
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “As long as the house of The Holy Spirit remains a haven for criminals the reputation of the church will remain in ruins.” — Sinéad O’Connor
- “As an artist, I wonder, What can I do to make the audience think differently about what good is, what bad is, who a man is, and who a woman is.” — Matthias Schoenaerts
- “It’s been awhile. My Oscar is getting kind of tarnished. I looked at it a couple of years ago and thought I really needed a new one.” — Ellen Burstyn
- Review: The End (2024)
- “I think they saw me as something like a deliverer, a way out. My means of expression, my music, was a way in which a lot of people wished they could express themselves and couldn’t.” — Little Richard
- “Even to this day, I watch The Wizard of Oz like I did when I was five years old. I get really involved in it.” — Lynne Ramsay
- “The ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.” — Joan Didion
- NYFCC 2024 Awards
- A Streetcar Named Desire: That’s What Williams Wrote. Deal With It.
- “Intellect and taste count, but I cut with my feelings.” — legendary editor Dede Allen
Recent Comments
- Maddy on Review: Daddio (2024)
- Maddy on “As long as the house of The Holy Spirit remains a haven for criminals the reputation of the church will remain in ruins.” — Sinéad O’Connor
- Maddy on “It’s been awhile. My Oscar is getting kind of tarnished. I looked at it a couple of years ago and thought I really needed a new one.” — Ellen Burstyn
- J MacArthur on The Books: “Hello from Bertha” (Tennessee Williams)
- Mike Molloy on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- Mike Molloy on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- MJ Freeman on Happy Birthday, Ralph Macchio, or: How one episode of Eight is Enough saved my life
- MJ Freeman on Happy Birthday, Ralph Macchio, or: How one episode of Eight is Enough saved my life
- Russel Prout on A Streetcar Named Desire: That’s What Williams Wrote. Deal With It.
- Gemstone on “I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
- Mike Molloy on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- Mike Molloy on November 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on “I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
- Gemstone on “I thought girls in their teens might like to read [Anne of Green Gables], that was the only audience I hoped to reach.” — L.M. Montgomery
- sheila on “There’s nothing you can tell me about guilt.” — Martin Scorsese
- sheila on For Liberties: Edna O’Brien: Documentary of A Writer and A Star
- sheila on November 2024 Viewing Diary
-
Catching up on all your news and oh my god!!!!!!!!!! I only saw this for the first time a couple months ago, in the middle of moving house which was itself nested in the middle of four or five extremely stressful events – I felt watching it like I was going OUT OF MY MIND, I can’t wait to read your essay!
Sheila on the horn with Marty for 40 minutes!!!! Brilliant. So happy for you.
// I only saw this for the first time a couple months ago //
No way!!! Perfect timing!!
and wow, yeah, watching in the middle of something stressful would make it even more stressful – when you’re that stressed, After Hours feels like a documentary! ha!!
It’s such a weird movie and it was challenging to write about it – especially since I knew it had to be approved by Marty! But one good thing was that … there really isn’t a lot of writing out there about After Hours. Not like his other movies, where there’s way too MUCH. The reviews are mostly dismissive – it just wasn’t taken seriously at the time … nobody just trusted that maybe Scorsese could just do what he wanted to do and not do what you THINK he should be doing?
And then it’s never really had a resurgence of critical interest – even though I know so many critics who adore it. There just isn’t a ton of stuff out there. So I was kind of starting from scratch – which was fun and challenging!
Interestingly, my nephew Cashel who is … 23 now? He told me that among his peers – and Gen Z in general – many count this as their favorite Scorsese. I thought that was so interesting!! I asked him why and he said something about how – life feels so confusing and you’re so anxious all the time and like everybody else knows what’s going on and you’re supposed to be an adult but you don’t feel like one – and the world just feels really really unfriendly and ganged up against you. You can’t win. I wish he would write about it – I thought that was so cool and interesting. (I told “Marty” this when we spoke – and he loved it!).
Marty is in with the Gen Z-ers!
I love After Hours as an entry in anxiety cinema that speaks directly to Gen Z. That feeling of being swept up in events outside of your control and surrounded by people who know the rules you don’t. This is a tangent, but I think you will get how my brain made the connection — when I was watching the In-Laws all I could think about was Bringing up Baby, and how Arkin turned Cary’s expressive stress into a more internalised stoic anxiety (that obviously is still very funny and leads to a wonderful crack-up) appropriate to the style of the times. Squint hard enough and After Hours is Marty’s Bringing up Baby, haha.
I think it’s great that you’re getting to enter a relatively clear field. I felt this when Criterion released The Black Stallion – because I genuinely rank it as one of the greatest movies ever made, even the positive contemporary reviews aren’t enough critical recognition, reflection, and explication. I was desperate for someone to look at it with the ‘right’ amount of passion and care, and so Michael Sragow’s rapturous essay really meant a lot to me! I think fans are going to be so pleased to read it – especially knowing it passed the Marty test haha.
// ow Arkin turned Cary’s expressive stress into a more internalised stoic anxiety //
Yes!! It makes me laugh just thinking about it.
and oooh The Black Stallion!! I was so EXCITED when Criterion decided to bring it out – and I agree about Sragow’s essay.
The opening half of the film – or, at least it feels like the full half – is an absolute masterpiece. I still don’t know how they did it.