'After Hours': An '80s Martin Scorsese cinematic masterpiece captures ghastly side of New York
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Cinema is described as the mirror to the world; the more sinister the movie, the better it represents the world. Martin Scorsese is the godfather of cinema and is known for his immense contribution and an eye for things most filmmakers can't seem to catch. The details aren't just in the grainy elements or the metaphors but are a direct representation of how the characters feel and portray it in the best way possible.
One movie that takes space in the cabinet of curiosities and takes the audience through the world with Scorsese's cinematic perspective is 'After Hours' and it is the direct definition of "wrong place, wrong time." The lead in the movie, played by Griffin Dunne, finds himself in drastic circumstances on an unfateful night. The movie also includes Rosanna Arquette, Catherine O'Hara, and Verna Bloom.
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The darkest subconscious of humanity
After 'The King of Comedy' was considered a major flop at the box office and Paramount Pictures canceled 'The Last Temptation of Christ' after a major public outrage, Martin Scorsese's career came to a halt. But, the nightmare of Scorsese's career was about to end after the filmmaker turned his jovial, comfortable city into a place straight out of nightmares. As a New Yorker, Martin Scorsese took the city into his directorial lens for the movie 'After Hours' and gave it the most exotic, harsh, and purgatorial depiction.
The movie was created in a way that dived deep into the grey world of Franz Kafka. This is expressed through the depiction of sadness and how the lead character Paul Hackett felt about his life and how the empty streets of New York were the direct depiction of his feelings about his 9-5 job. Scorsese perfectly captured the character's feelings and described them in the most cinematic way possible. There are few filmmakers who take efforts to bring out the best of cinema, as it is the rawest, most vulnerable, and most naive kind of art; an art that has the power to influence generations.
'After Hours' is somewhere close to the movie 'Taxi Driver' in terms of depiction. Both movies take that little thread between a character's sanity and the moment they lose their mind. The part in the middle is the delectable part of cinema. The portrayal of New York City in 'After Hours' brings out a scary emotion. The streets with no crowds and the alleyways of SoHo bring out an uncanny resemblance of a half-dreamt dream. These raw and uncensored scenes were captured by Scorsese's oldest collaborator, Michael Ballhaus. Everything in the movie fits into each other, giving the satisfactory feeling of a Rubik's cube being solved in mere seconds. And the cherry on top was the great Howard Shore's ominous composition.
The film has sinister undertones
What happens at 3 am, when you're close to losing your sanity? That is the major theme of 'After Hours'. Martin Scorsese imagined the lit-up life of SoHo as a place that hides demons and crime. The lead Paul comes into contact with an innumerable cast of people who may not properly come out as someone from the best part of the city but are induced with a great sense of anomaly that makes them feel like they belong somewhere in the neighborhood. All in all, the movie was created when Scorsese was in a bad phase of his career. However, 'After Hours' clearly is the movie that comes out as something every filmmaker must watch, at least once.