a personal journey

Martin Scorsese's 3-episode documentary for the BBC takes us literally on a "personal journey through American cinema". Having seen Scorsese talk about films before, I can say that he's a very good candidate for such a project. He has the right mix of admiration, awe, knowledge, and geekiness. And his ouevre serves as an excellent bed for examples. This is neither complete nor exhaustive, but it's just fun to see him sit and share his enthusiasm for works that span the spectrum from mainstream to virtually unknown. Three tapes may seem like a lot, but this NEVER gets boring. And it's also a good way to build up a list of interesting films (especially if you're tired of the predictable lists churned out by the AFI). [ The director's dilemma The director as storyteller || The director as illusionist The director as smuggler part 1 || The director as smuggler part II The director as iconoclast].

NOTE: One name that stood out in the list of acknowledgements at the end was "Quentin Tarantino". I never saw QT in any episode, and MS never dropped his name. However, given that names like Sam Fuller and Budd Boetticher figure prominently, I'm not very surprised. Triviamongers will note that the scrawl credits were designed by Saul Bass.