“Bringing Out the Dead” Scorsese and Schrader, “Taxi Driver” after 20 years *Note! Contains spoilers.

*This article touches on the ending of the story, so we recommend watching the movie before reading it.

“Bringing Out the Dead” synopsis

New York in the early 90s. Frank, a Bringing Out the Dead who fights at the cutting edge of emergency medical care, suffers from insomnia due to his grueling work schedule and the guilt of not being able to save lives for months. One day, he meets a woman named Mary Burke. After meeting her, Frank finds hope in his life, but the harsh reality hits him mercilessly.

Index

• “Bringing Out the Dead” was a dismal failure both commercially and critically.
• Similarities to “Taxi Driver”
• A man named Paul Schrader
• Difference between the original and the movie
• How can Travis be saved after 20 years?

“Bringing Out the Dead” was a dismal failure both commercially and critically.

It can be said that ``The Bringing Out the Dead'' (1999), along with `` Kundun '' (1997), is one of Martin Scorsese's most unlikely films to see the light of day. It was a box office failure, earning less than half of its production budget, and was the only one of Scorsese's feature films from the 1990s to not even come close to winning an Oscar. It did poorly both at the box office and in criticism, and the reason for this can be seen in the difficult content.

However, the famous American critic Roger Ebert highly praised the film at the time, giving it a perfect score of 4 stars, and the lead actor, Nicolas Cage, chose it as one of his five favorite films. There is no doubt that it is a work that would be very unfortunate to be buried. This film can also be viewed as a B-side to Scorsese's `` Taxi Driver '' (1976). This time I would like to take up such a ``Bringing Out the Dead''.

``The Bringing Out the Dead'' is based on the novel of the same name by Joe Connelly, and is based on his own experiences working as a Bringing Out the Dead in the Hell's Kitchen area of ​​Manhattan. ``The Dead'' is based on a John Cleese gag in `` Monty Python and the Holy Grail ''/75 *1). The book became a hot topic when it was published in the United States, and the rights to make it into a movie were sold in an instant, and the book was made into a movie in collaboration with Paramount and Touchstone Pictures.

“Bringing Out the Dead” preview

Scorsese, who was appointed as director at the time, directed `` Goodfellas '' in 1990, and has since directed `` Cape Fear '' (1991), ` `The Age of Innocence '' (1993), and `` Casino' ' (1995). ) and one after another, all of which were nominated for Oscars, which was a real The Birds.

I think Scorsese was chosen as director because of the popularity of the film at the time, but also because this novel has a lot in common with Scorsese's masterpiece, `` Taxi Driver .'' Set in a devastated New York night, the image of an insomniac Bringing Out the Dead who is fed up with the city's decay and patrols the city by car on his night shift is reminiscent of Travis from Taxi Driver . It reminds me of Bickle. (As I will explain later, this similarity will be emphasized even more when it is made into a movie.) In that sense, it can be said that he was the perfect director.

Nicolas Cage plays the main character, Bringing Out the Dead Frank Pierce. According to Scorsese, the first thing that came to mind when he read the original story was his face and eyes*1. His characteristic acting style is that he is extremely quiet when he is quiet, but on the other hand, when he is able to shake things off, he becomes so over the top that you can't help but laugh. The main character, who is introspective and exhausted, but who gradually becomes depressed due to the many unreasonable developments, is completely addicting. Furthermore, the heroine is Patricia Arquette, and the protagonist's colleagues are John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore, all of whom are sure to be chosen.

Similarities to “Taxi Driver”