Having worked with him on Oscar-nominated drama Killers Of The Flower Moon, Apple TV+ has now dedicated a five-episode miniseries to legendary director Martin Scorsese. It’s a biography worthy of his groundbreaking career.
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Described quite grandly as a “portrait” by director Rebecca Miller, each episode of Mr. Scorsese charts a different period in his life. Starting with his childhood among the wise guys of New York and his early days as a rebellious filmmaker, we follow every step of Scorsese’s journey to becoming one of the giants of American moviemaking. A mouth-watering lineup of collaborators including Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Miller’s husband Daniel Day-Lewis talk about collaborating with ‘Marty’, and why his art has endured.
This is more than mere Hollywood glazing. The light and dark of his life are examined without apology. Opening to ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ by The Rolling Stones, a band he has worked with frequently, what emerges is an exploration of what it is to be driven by your art. His dedication to making movies the way he wanted to came at a personal cost – his daughters readily admit he wasn’t the most attentive father while former partner Isabella Rossellini remembers his tremendous fits of temper.
Interestingly, Scorsese himself accepts it all, even chuckling when being reminded of a time he threatened to pull a gun on an executive who wanted to make cuts to Taxi Driver. Miller’s uncompromising focus gives a complete picture, showing the often troubled mindset of a great artist. The story is made bigger by little exterior touches, such as an appearance from the neighbourhood tough guy who inspired Mean Streets, and the director’s mother, Catherine, scolding him when she appeared in a famous dinner scene from Goodfellas.
Then, of course, there’s the art itself. The gritty delight of behind-the-scenes trivia is matched with analysis that shows you just why he is so effective. Everything from the intentionally artificial set of New York, New York to the blood-spattered ring ropes of Raging Bull has a purpose, often breaking the rules to find something new and interesting. A filmmaking course in and of itself, the show encapsulates the Scorsese-starring “absolute cinema” meme.
The real world impact his films had when they were first released will be a surprise to newcomers. Scorsese talks about the fear he felt after some of his more violent characters became revered, to the point where Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle inspired an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. There’s also retrospectively hilarious archive footage of religious campaigners calling for The Passion Of The Christ to be banned before it had even been finished, a reminder that cancel culture is not a modern phenomenon.
The final chapter, which shows Scorsese as an elder statesman and features tributes from Leonardo DiCaprio among others, feels earned given what he (and we) have been through in the previous episodes. Whereas some biographies can feel like moving Wikipedia pages, Mr. Scorsese is a vivid, wild ride through the mind of a cinematic genius. Gorgeously composed and unflinching in its examination, it’s five hours of movie nerd heaven.
‘Mr. Scorsese’ is available on Apple TV+ from October 17
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