[3.9]
Any movie that can haunt my feverish nightmares must be doing something right. Martin Scorsese has certainly delivered the strangest mindfuck film of his career, and while it is clear that a master is behind the helm, its certainly not the sort of film that Scorsese thrives on. As far as atmospheric mise-en-scene goes, this film wins. The dramatic, isolated island, set with a Civil War-era fortress and other buildings that look like came from a quaint small town, is a wonderful mix of contradictory images. The acting is very good, with Leo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, and Ben Kingsley giving convincing, passionate performances, but Patricia Clarkson is the standout for me, maybe because I love her, but also because she steals the show in her intense, brief appearance as the lone escaped doctor onto the “plot” of the evil islanders. There are some lovely dream images in the beginning, even if they are intensely corny (DiCaprio’s love turns to ashes in his hands), but the real joy is in seeing Scorsese cut loose on the hallucinogenic nightmare delusions of the second half of the film. DiCaprio’s encounter with the prisoners is really scary, and I love the run up the windy staircase of the lighthouse, but when Kingsley starts spelling out the truth behind the fiction, I get confused and then irritated. So… this was all an elaborate setup to try to convince DiCaprio that he’s crazy, so that he can recover his sanity and not be sent to get a lobotomy. Ummm, okay. The ending was saved somewhat by the smart choice of having DiCaprio fake his own insanity again JUST so he can have his brain cut apart and he won’t have to think about his own crimes again. It’s a tricky morality issue on a number of levels, and it’s handled with a light touch. No preaching here. The last line is perfectly quotable: ‘Is it better to live as a monster or die as a good man?’
burning retina 