“You talking to me?”
Review by Lewis Goodall
Big up all the taxi drivers out there, I both fully appreciate you and also hate you. On the one hand you’re great, the drunk, yuck people you have to put up with at half one in the morning is inspiring, I couldn’t do that, but you know what I can do…. follow the highway code!! Come on, you drive everyday yet you’re all over the place, you should be the best. Its like having a baker that makes shite cakes everyday but they get away with it because their customers are too drunk to notice they’re awful, but sober people who bake in their spare time look at this baker in amazement that their baking skills are so sub par, its your job! Bake better, taxi better, rant over.
Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, follows ex -army vet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a mentally unstable individual that gets overpowered by the intensity of the New York night life. Working as a taxi driver, he sees all the unjustices in the world which fuels his violent side to take action.
Slow film but good film, it takes a while for the story itself to kick off but what does stand out right at the beginning, right from the first second is the stunning visuals this film has to offer. Everytime the film entered the dreary, neon lit night of New York I was grabbing the tissues and lotion because it was just beautiful. Possibly the most stand out aspect of the film for me is the visuals. Its also a fantastic character study but I got distracted by the pretty lights.
Travis Bickle, Good guy just trying to do good, thats the story really. As I mentioned, he sees the seedy underbelly of New York within its pimps, gangs but also its politicians. Everything weighing down on his shoulders, no wonder he wants to pull out a gun on it all. We see him, not so much decend but more evolve from someone who is a spectator to a referee. Robert De Niro is just fantastic in this role, its great to see him in his prime and actually be able to kick people who are on the floor. Plus you have the infamous, improvised “you talking to me” scene which really shows his character changing from what he was at the beginning.
If you liked Joker than you would like this too. Watching this i’d be very surprised if Todd Phillips wasn’t heavily influenced by every aspect of Taxi Driver. I mean he even got Robert De Niro in Joker, it must be true! My very loose point here is that this film was ahead of its time, it seriously holds up to the point that Taxi Driver and Joker look and feel pretty much the same but with a 50 year difference. Both incredible films.
Overall this film is the opposite to how real taxi drivers drive, its incredible. There were maybe a few aspects that seemed a bit disjointed and out of character but thats something I’ll need to pick up on on my second watch. I think i was just getting distracted by the boner inducing visuals.
Critically Ashamed 