It suddenly hit me this morning that I’m getting a little bit tired of Martin Scorsese being tributed all the time. The guy spends one-third of his life accepting awards and tributes, one-third doing what he can to raise consciousness about classic films and film preservation (and hail to him for that), and one third making docs and features. I love Marty as much as anyone in the dweeb fraternity, but something snapped when I saw this headline. I said to myself, “Jesus Christ…again?”
Scorsese accepted an award at the Marrakech Film Festival last year, which I happened to attend courtesy of Jessica Uzzan. I remember sitting there and scowling and muttering to myself, “Another fucking Scorsese tribute?”
This is part of my general feeling that he needs to put away the tuxedoes and give all the tributes a rest and “go guerilla” and find his narrative moviemaking soul again. The best Scorsese film since The Departed was Letter to Elia — so much more direct and moving and personal than Hugo, which was technically very impressive with a very affecting finale, but was basically a paycheck movie — let’s face it.
Please, God — spare us from Scorcese’s Silence!