Martin Scorsese, one of the best to ever do it, is doing it again. While introducing his latest film, a documentary about the New York Dolls, Scorsese opened up about what has become a recurring theme: Movies are important and they are in trouble.
More specifically, Scorsese is of the mind that the focus on a film’s box office haul is an injustice to the art as a whole. Speaking at the New York Film festival, he made a plea for people think about cinema less as a business venture that must turn a profit and more as an art worth enjoying on its own terms.
“Cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art,” he said. “Since the ’80s, there’s been a focus on numbers. It’s kind of repulsive. The cost of a movie is one thing. Understand that a film costs a certain amount, they expect to at least get the amount back, plus, again. The emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the U.S.A., how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made in the entire world, how many viewers it got.”
“As a filmmaker, and as a person who can’t imagine life without cinema, I always find it really insulting,” he concluded. “I’ve always known that such considerations have no place at the New York Film Festival, and here’s the key also with this: There are no awards here. You don’t have to compete. You just have to love cinema here.”
Even if Scorsese had never directed a single film, his passionate defense of the art of filmmaking and his storied efforts to preserve old movies and elevate obscure filmmakers would make him an indelible contribution to the medium. But of course, this is the guy who directed Goodfellas, Raging Bull, The Irishman, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, Silence, Casino and, well, we could go on. Next year, we’ll get a chance to see his latest effort, Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser, Jesse Plemons and Lily Gladstone.
You can watch Scorsese’s whole speech below.
Powerful words on the state of cinema by Martin Scorsese at his and @thenyff’s 60th! #nyff60 @FilmLinc pic.twitter.com/T37HcNMQDl
— Ellen Houlihan (@elliehoulie) October 13, 2022
