Martin Scorsese has become something of the last line of defense against the creeping production line feeling of modern cinema. A self-appointed guardian of the cinematic gates against the seemingly never-ending march of the mego-globo-franchise and cookie-cutter interconnected universe. He has been critical of everything from Marvel to current Star Wars.
However, even the biggest critic says all is not lost, in fact he feels a revolution isn’t just coming, but it’s already started. Scorsese says the industry is in the midst of reinventing the very notion of cinema.
Scorsese appeared at the BFI London Film Festival to promote his latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon. As part of the publicity, he took part in a Screen Talk presentation with Shaun Of The Dead director Edgar Wright. As reported in Variety, he talked revolution:
“I didn’t want to be the last line of defense. I honestly think it’s thrown back now with all of you. And I really mean this: I don’t know where cinema is going to go.
Why does it have to be the same as it was for the past 90-100 years? It doesn’t. Do we prefer films from the last 90-100 years? I do, but I’m old.
Younger people are going to see the world around them in a different way, you’re going to see it fragmented… What does one shot mean now? I don’t know anymore.
I don’t think it means anything … You all are in the process of a period of reinventing it. It’s quite an extraordinary time, and a lot of it has to do with the technology.”
He was talking about how new technology gives young people more freedom and more opportunities to become filmmakers, saying they can:
“…rethink what you want to say and how you want to say it. Ideally, I hope – I hesitate to use the word – ‘serious’ film could still be made with this new technology and this new world we’re a part of.”
So Scorsese is advocating that today’s online “content providers” could become filmmakers? Not so fast:
“Content is something you eat and you throw away. But if you want to have an experience which can enrich your life, it’s different.”
Killers of the Flower Moon hits theaters on October 20th.
Source: Variety
