"The Goodfellas" Scorsese Blog #2

Martin Sorcese's film "The Goodfellas" has been regarded as one of the best mobster movies of all time. One of the most interesting aspects of this film was the narration throughout by Ray Liotta who played Henry Hill, an upcoming mobster joining the ranks of some of the finest: Paulie Cicero, Tuddy Cicero, and Jimmy Conway (DeNiro). The introduction to the film was interesting because it was taken from the middle of the film and had just the right amount of graphic violence to catch the viewer's attention. One technical skill utilized by Scorsese was the use of freeze framing. Scorsese froze the shot in order to allow the viewer to take a minute to get a handle on all of these images that are being thrown at them. Scorsese freezes the shot and Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) comments on what is happening oftentimes explaining things that would otherwise be difficult to show visually. Along with the freeze frame Scorsese utilized many other cinematography techniques such as a slow motion shot of DeNiro taking a long drag from his cigarette while sitting down at the bar, low key lighting throughout the film, and red filters often in the presence of danger or anger. Scorsese is a master of his time and this is clearly made obvious through the many complex and meaningful cinematic techniques utilized throughout the film.

Not only was Scorsese able to tell a story through filming and cinematography but he was able to make the focus of the film more obvious through repetition. Scorsese spends a lot of time pounding the idea of family being of huge importance by showing more than necessary shots of family dinners, parties, nights out, card games...etc. He also spends a great deal of the movie showing how important material things are to these people. In one scene Scorsese pans across Henry's closet showing all of his expensive suits and then goes on to pan across his wife's wardrobe as if to focus on how materialistic they really are and how wealth and power has consumed them. I liked how he made Henry's narration increase in speed and made all of the words seem to string together when he was all coked up and paranoid. It seems to me that in this film Scorsese places a lot of commentary on drug abuse and how it can tear up a person and leave them confused, lost and alone. Overall Scorsese's film, "The Goodfellas" is one of my all time favorites because to be completely honest the lifestyle definitely sounds like fun.