After Hours Movie Review

After Hours (1985)

Director: Martin Scorsese 

After watching a couple Martin Scorsese movies recently including Raging Bull (1980) and Casino (1995) , I thought I would try and get a more rounded view of his filmography. After Hours caught my eye because A) it wasn't a gangster movie, don't get my wrong I love gangster movies, especially when Scorsese does them but I wanted to see how Scorsese's talents would translate to what has been described as a 'black comedy' and B) It was Scorsese's first film since Taxi Driver (1976) that didn't star Robert De Niro and of course, I don't have a problem with De Niro as an actor, he is remarkable but I wanted to see how Scorsese would work with other actors. 

I didn't know what to expect from After Hours, from my previous knowledge of Scorcese's work I wouldn't have expected this. 

After Hours tells the story of Paul Hackett, a word processor with a seemingly dull, routine driven existence until he meets a girl in a restaurant who unknowingly sends his evening into a downward spiral. The price he pays for an evening with a nice girl is one of stress, fear, bemusement and above all, exhaustion. 

The film soon goes from being a boy meets girl story to a series of events that get progressively intense and darkly amusing as the clock ticks by. Everything from suicide, punks, angry mobs and burglars are intricately woven together to conspire against our protagonist. The storytelling on show both by the writer Joseph Minion and director Martin Scorsese is second to none, the ability to link these seemingly unrelated events to give the audience a real impression that Paul really is stuck in this hellish environment and that the streets themselves are conspiring against him is truly amazing. 

The one thing I would say stood out to me about this film is it's sense of humour, I've seen flashes of great comedic moments in Scorsese films but the overall comedic tone of this film is something I've never seen before, the comedic moments in this film are predominantly very dark in tone which for some people would be off putting but I thought it was brilliant, to make something so funny but so intense and claustrophobic is not an easy task but it was pulled off excellently. 

Finally, I just want to mention the cinematography which at points was breathtaking, particularly in the exteriors where we see the neon drenched streets with smoke flooding the lens, it just suited the tone of the film perfectly. 

Overall, I think After Hours is a great movie and a real treat in Scorsese's filmography, for people that, like I did, think he was just the master of the gangster film, then I really encourage them to watch this because along with The King of Comedy (1982)  After Hours is one of the best Scorsese films I have seen in a long time. Turns out Scorsese is The King of Comedy, black comedy at least.

8/10

18/11/2015