Viewing this film was an interesting expierience because of how accustomed and familiar I've become with Scorsese's style from the early 90's due to my multiplie viewings of Goodfellas and Casino. This film provided a complex mash-up of certain directorial elements of both of those films, as well as a few new techniques. Cape Fear also holds certain characteristics of these early 90's Scorsese flicks, and after finally seeing The Age of Innocence, I've come to regard 1990 - 1995 as a bit of Scorsese golden age. I've yet to see the two films that preceded and followed this 5 year time period (The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun), so hopefully I can get to those soon.
As for The Age of Innocence itself, Scorsese's flawless use of a nearly constantly moving camera is stunning. I also enjoyed his liberal yet unique use of the fade technique, which is especially evident in the first half of the film. Also, his choice to use an unidentified narrator (unless I missed something in the beginning) was intriguing. With his quadrilogy of early 90's films, I feel like Scorsese really set the precedent for the coming years and showed everyone what can really be done with modern cinematic technology.
Daniel Day Lewis's talent is obvious here, but even more so when considering his other Scorsese performance in Gangs of New York. The interesting thing is that while both films share a similar setting and time period, Day Lewis plays drastically different characters, showing his range. I personally enjoyed both he and Scorsese's work here much more than in Gangs.
One specific element I particularly enjoyed here was the brief glimpses the viewers got into Daniel Day Lewis's character's subconcious thoughts. The nostalgic fantasy sequence right near the end was one of the best expressions of rememberance and regret I've ever seen on the screen. Scorsese's continuing choice of main characters who are members of a society from which they feel ultimately alienated fascinates me as well.
Overall, despite the long line of critically acclaimed films I've seen recently, this is one of the first ones to really jump out at me, invigorate my creative processes, and really just get me excited about watching movies again. This film absolutely reaffirms Scorsese as my favorite director. I was thinking afterwards and after a little research I realized that this was my 10th Scorsese film, tying the most I've seen from any one director. I'm really looking forward to eventually getting to The King of Comedy, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Kundun, as well as rewatches for a couple more of his. And I can't fucking wait for The Departed.
