Movies Are My Life

My early teenage years were when I discovered my three favourite living film directors- John Waters, William Friedkin and Martin Scorsese.

It was whilst I was frantically hunting down all of the movies made by Scorsese after first watching Taxi Driver when I was 14 that I read of a documentary made in 1977 called Movies Are My Life. I had a friend who was lucky enough to have Sky TV on which there was a one-off screening of this and so I gave him a blank videotape and begged him to record it for me. He obliged.

It didn't disappoint. Over the years the tape it was on disappeared but it was just the other day that I was thinking about this documentary when I had the lightbulb moment that involved looking for it on the internet. And after a quick Google search I found it!

It's great watching it again. It was made in 1977 after Scorsese had finished shooting New York, New York and was editing The Last Waltz. This was an iconic time for Scorsese when he had made so many classic movies and was yet to make even more.

Not only is the maestro interviewed about his career so far but his contributors and collaborators are also interviewed and it's great to see such luminaries as De Niro, Jodie Foster, Steven Prince and Liza Minelli speaking about what's like to work with such a visionary.

The film is also noteworthy as it shows the friendship that Scorsese had/has with Robbie Robertson. These were Scorsese's wild years when he took certain substances to excess and ended up hospitalised because of it. The interviews with Robinson here capture this very vividly indeed (you'll know what I mean when you watch the film!) A choice moment is when he looks out of the window into the night sky and says 'It isn't even dawn yet!'

It's great that this peek into such a thrilling era of Scorsese's filmmaking life was chronicled, not so great that this film was unavailable for so long. It's fantastic that someone has uploaded it onto the internet but how long it stays up before it's pulled down is unknown. If I was you I'd finish reading this, do a Google search and watch it now. Just to be sure. Note- the version on YouTube is cut. Go the Google route to watch the full version on the net.

Can we get a proper release of this gem please?

If there's one person who deserves to claim the title of such documentary then that person is Martin Scorsese. Acclaimed filmmaker with a encyclopedic knowledge, and one has to tried to cover every possible genre available, working with all kinds of talents through the decades.

This film here is pretty good when it comes to present Marty's career up until then (from "Mean Streets" to "The Last Waltz"). Always a fascinating conversationalist, specially if he's talking about movies as we're able to see how much he cares for this art form, speaking with great enthusiasm about the countless references he has or about his own films. That's great.

But we're seeing a young filmmaker rather than the veteran, and considering that it was sort of personal lost phase for him, he isn't completely articulate as he would become and evidenced in many documentaries and audio commentaries. Yet there's brilliancy and high enthusiasm as he talks about cinema and his films, and he's not alone in this one, as many actors, friends and collaborators (Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Steven Prince, Jay Cocks, John Cassavetes, Brian De Palma) talk about the author of "Taxi Driver", his commitment to filmmaking and how it is to work with him.

Humor, wisdom, and many great behind the scenes talks and moments - with some film clips too - all proof why Scorsese is one of the greatest minds of cinema, a master storyteller, full of creativity, intensity and passion for cinema, a genius who cannot stay quiet for too long (as evidenced by the way he talks and moves his hand, of which composer Robbie Robertson calls him as a 'maestro').

Many funny anedoctes dominate the mood of it all, this piece is very light and warmth rather than a more serious take about everything. Yet I was absorbed through everything, but don't expect much of a highly intellectual view on films. Marty was slowly walking towards that path back then. But he got there with time. 9/10.