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Apr 15, 2018richmole rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Three stars for this one. Against what? Good question. Other Scorcese movies? Yes. Tenacity? No question: it took Scorcese DECADES to bring this movie concept to fruition. Entertainment value? Well, I was entertained by Silence and I'm not easily entertained. I eject a lot of "entertainment" movies less than half an hour after I punch "play." See, it's subjective: what amuses and excites other people, I describe with the word I see in many of the reviews below: "b-o-r-i-n-g." Like a lot of so-called comedies. And love stories, especially 21st century ones, in which people speak in some kind of bizarre coded language, although I stuck with Judd Apetow's The Big Sick and was eventually rewarded. But it was a struggle, I assure you. Says one reviewer: "Scorcese must have some demons he's battling." Absolutely correct, and as a New York Italian Catholic, he's been battling them since his first feature, in 1967. You can see his struggle with faith, redemption, Jesus, many characters' inability around women--not to mention the director's own! So, yeah, nothing new there...but this is somehow bad? Whatever fuels the creative fires, I say. Like the director's boyhood fascination with "made men" of the mob: see the early Mean Streets, later: Casino, Goodfellas. Having said that--I consider this: one of the main characters in this drama (Liam Neeson) no longer has faith. He doesn't "lose" it--he voluntarily GIVES IT UP. He says "enough of this s***" takes an Asian wife and ...wow: finds peace. Outside the church! Who'da thunk it? So, when you consider Scorcese in THIS light... And consider that the premiere was in...Rome. It does make you pause. See what a good movie can do? And I gotta add this: one reviewer says Hollywood USED to make lots of these kind of movies. What kind? "high brow for the mass market." Well, I'm not sure that was ever true. But since when was a movie that actually nudged you into maybe thinking a little as you munched your way through popcorn considered "highbrow"? Heck, I did a little thinking watching Avatar, too. But then, maybe that was just me.