Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Today we talk about one of the great ones: Martin Scorsese. Who’s better than Marty? Myself, Conor O’Donnell, and guest Jake Kring-Schreifels. Our B-Sides today include Italianamerican, Kundun, Bringing Out the Dead, and Silence.
We talk about a lot in this one. How to pronounce Scorsese! How to pronounce Coppola! Catholicism! Buddhism! Making films about religions in your life! This is an episode with lofty ambitions, not unlike most Scorsese pictures!
In examining Italianamerican we muse on Marty as documentarian, including the mention of an incredibly-underrated Scorsese documentary that’s hard to find: Public Speaking starring Fran Lebowitz. We reflect on the guardedness of memory by older generations (and how that may reveal itself in this new, Covid-stung generation). We also recount the Muddy Waters – László Kovács story from the set of The Last Waltz, We parse Marty’s constant wrestle with faith in Bringing Out the Dead, and how its gentler, compassionate qualities weave into Kundun and Silence, all of which feature some of the best collaborations in his career.
Additional writing from Jake includes his superb oral history of The Wolf of Wall Street (also linking to Fran Hoepfner’s great piece on the same movie on Bright Wall Dark Room), a recent great piece on stunts tied to the release of The Fall Guy, and a lovely interview with the director of Saved! In celebration of its twenty-year anniversary.
For more from The B-Side, you can check out highlights of actors/directors and the films discussed in one place here.
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