We Departed From Our Bodies

EZRA delivers the play-by-play on another masterpiece by Mr. Martin Scorsese.


The Departed is just one of those movies you're gonna hear a lot about, so if you haven't already, just go see it already.

Scorsese is in top form as always; in fact, I read a review today (filmthreat.com) that says it's his best film since Goodfellas. Personally, I would have to disagree; I like Cape Fear better, not to mention the always underrated Bringing Out the Dead. But it is quite possibly the most entertaining film I've seen in theatres all year, with Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio gleefully sinking their teeth into surprisingly believable genre roles. I might even go so far as to say that Nicholson, as Frank Costello, portrays the most convincing mob boss ever seen onscreen, and DiCaprio finally pulls off the toughness he needed in Scorsese's Gangs of New York. But this is definitely Nicholson's movie whenever he's onscreen; even in soft focus, he steals attention away from the other actors, all of whom are pretty formidable, including Matt Damon, Ray Winstone, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg.

Baldwin, in my opinion, outshines all the other supporting players with his hot-tempered, fast-talking police chief; the part is basically comic relief, but he gamely attacks it with his best, and it shows.

The cinematography is very classical, while at the same time full of somewhat unconventional movement. A friend of mine observed that it is largely composed of faces throughout, with only very few establishing shots and, of course, a few good action set pieces, and this is very true. For a gangster-ass thriller, this is a very artistic and character-driven film. My personal favorite scene involves Nicholson, a couple of his hoes and a metric fuckload of cocaine. Watch for it.

My only beef with the film, which is a somewhat loose remake of the also excellent Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, is its ending, which is just not quite as dark or ambiguous as I would have liked. But that is what is known as a spoiler, so I'll leave that for personal discussions for those of you who have seen the film and are unfortunate enough to know me personally.

-EZRA