SHUTTER ISLAND

Recently I forced myself to sit through an entire DVD showing of Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, starring Leonardo Dicaprio.

I'm not the most avid fan of Mr. Scorsese. For one thing, when I turn on a late night talk show, if Martin Scorsese or Robert DeNiro is a guest, I can never tell which one it is. Of course, the fact that one always seems to be acting in the other's movies doesn't help clear up the confusion.

A few words about Scorsese movies:  Taxi Driver: OK, Color of Money: OK, The Last Temptation of Christ: What a blast wading through throngs of angry Catholics to get into the theater to see that one, Goodfellas: OK, Cape Fear: Histrionics and a lot of water splashing around, Casino and Gangs of New York: OK, The Departed: Was pleasantly surprised, but check out the Hong Kong original and vastly superior Infernal Affairs, which brings us to Shutter Island.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a US Marshal who is larking about trying to locate a patient missing from a mental hospital on Shutter Island. I won't bore you with my repetitious complaining about movies set in mental hospitals. My friend Gordon and I saw West Side Story together and agreed that years of interactions with actual juvenile delinquents make it hard to suspend disbelief when the ones on the screen start doing Jerome Robbins choreography. Similar difficulties arise when someone wants me to pretend I'm seeing the criminally insane in their natural habitat.


Plot wise, I can't help but wonder why Leo is so determined to portray a nut case in virtually every movie he makes. What happened to that cute boy we loved so much as a junkie in Basketball Diaries and Johnny Depp's troublesome brother in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Visually, this movie was exquisite. Better turn the sound down though.