SCORSESE AND TARANTINO AT THE OSCARS

      This year's upcoming Oscar  on February 9 for BEST PICTURE is an especially intriguing one, particularly since two old-time respected directors, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, are in competition with each other. An absence of decades has preceded this "stand-off." Yet what difference does that make anyway? Maybe only to yours truly who always thought both filmmakers shared common traits, some obvious, some not. Scorsese's "The Irishmen" and Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" ( "Hollywood") help prove the point.

     While I was writing my book on Scorsese several years ago, I kept searching for a consistent theme in the body of his works. True, I found  recurring motifs and subjects, but not one similar main idea emerged. However,  that changed when New York Times critic A.O. Scott pinpointed the essential  meaning in "The Irishmen" as  the inevitability of loss. 

     I'll go with that, yet there's more to it. How about the ambiguous nature of loss?  In "Mean Streets," that ambiguity extends to its open ending: who died and who didn't? In "The Irishmen," Robert De Niro's character, Frank Sheeran, was obviously uncertain about his own losses as he reached the end of his life, but did he feel remorse or guilt or neither? The movie's beginning and ending shots identify the opposing ebb and flow of this loss, the opening images showing vibrant movement through a hospital's hallway, the ending providing a still shot of De Niro, sitting static in his room, suggesting a box- within- a - box configuration.

     There are other pervasive themes in  "The Irishmen" as well, just like most other Scorsese films, especially the importance of the family in all its dimensions: the strength of ethnic  male bondage; loyalty to the nuclear family. And we must not forget another kind of family which has endured throughout the director's professional life: ensemble  actors, like De Niro and Harvey Keitel as well as creative partners, including editor Thelma Schoonmaker. These people represent a family in every sense of the word, even extending sometimes to their role as Scorsese's  alter-ego, an idea that is not usually considered.

     If you've been a Scorsese fan and or have a connection with his life and times in any way, you as an audience member become part of this same family, which isn't difficult when many of us are the same age ( late 70s to early 80s) as the actors. Which means, you have, in fact, watched these characters grow up.

     Continuing with the idea of themes, common characteristics also bond Scorsese's "The Irishmen" and Tarantino's "Hollywood." No doubt, loss plays a part in "Hollywood"  as Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt experience ups and downs with their popularity, and fame take a large toll. Yet loss is not limited to these two iconic characters. There's also the  loss of Hollywood B films, literally, and the various deaths of important members of this movie culture. 

     Family is similarly salient: participants  of the movie scene are close as any family could be, including DiCaprio and Pitt. Certainly, potent presence of the Manson family is another obvious example concerning the essential nature of  the family.

     There are structural similarities, too. Consider the  amount of violence that often erupts without warning, the dialogue between characters that often becomes surrealistic. The fish conversation in the back of the car in "The Irishmen" reminds one perhaps of John Travolta's and Samuel  Jackson's talking in "Pulp Fiction" ( this example is admittedly not from "Hollywood.")

     Yet we also can't forget the narrative concept of the past haunting the present in "The Irishmen" with the saga of Jimmy Hoffa nor the story of the Manson Murders in "Hollywood. " Together, the films provide a context, both historic and iconic. We are held captive by the characters in both movies as well, and this is laudable. But this critic can't help but perceive DiCaprio and Pitt as basically losers. So, too, are the protagonists of "The Irishmen." But we somehow like them anyway.