Bringing Out the Dead1999

Scorses-a-thon 1 AM After nine years around the world and throughout time, Marty’s finally back home. And we see his city through the eyes of an EMT on the night shift. It’s funny how every movie I see about New York is about how much it sucks.  I think this and Alice Doesn’t Live Here are probably Scorsese’s most underrated films at least from what I’ve seen so far. And I think this movie is a perfect example of how Scorsese is able to stay so relevant and so successful. Because this movie is thoroughly contemporary, thoroughly Y2K, and thoroughly Scorsese. He doesn’t sacrifice quality for the sake of modernity. It also shows how goated Thelma Schoonmaker is and how well she can adapt. Her work is always incredibly snappy, but here it’s frantic and frenetic while always deliberate. Just an incredible vision perfectly executed.  Obviously, I think for people who enjoy The Pitt, this one’s for you. Showing the highs and devastating, debilitating lows of the emergency medical field. You have to ask how do they do it, and thank god they do. Frank is at the end of his rope. Hearing voices and seeing all the people he couldn’t save. He wants nothing more than to quit, but he can’t. He’s like a shark, and he has to keep moving or the ghosts will catch up with him.  I really like how every night he has a different partner that brings a different energy and contrasts and reflects Frank’s own. And of course, there’s Mary, this little glimmer of light that Frank is drawn to, just something that he can hold onto. Maybe he can save her. And maybe he can save himself.  Something that makes this feel so different is how this movie is inhabited by just normal, everyday people, another trait it shares with Alice Doesn’t Live Here. So many Scorsese stories are populated by gods and demigods, heroes and legends, and feel more like great myths and timeless tales than simply films. But here is a story of someone that does appear superhuman to the layman, and then we watch him bleed. And they are just like us. They struggle like us. But they push through. Maybe they are superhuman after all.  A truly fantastic film. Dark and darkly funny. And hopeful.  Good night.  Good morning.