Post by StevePulaski on Sept 4, 2017 23:40:26 GMT -5
Cape Fear (1991)
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.
Rating: ★★★½
Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a lawyer in North Carolina, living with his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and their daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis). Sam's desirable life becomes a bit unhinged at the drop of a hat when Max Cady (Robert De Niro), a former client of Sam's, is realized from prison after a fourteen-year-stint. Their first (re)encounter comes in a movie theater, with Cady cackling loudly several rows in front of Sam and his family whilst chomping on a cigar, and then in a parking lot where Cady's passive-aggressive tone leaves Sam fearing for the worst. He has every reason to be scared.
Cady's crimes were deplorable ones, as you can probably assume - rape and battery, and Sam, unbeknownst to Cady at the time, knowingly hid extraneous evidence that could've let Cady off easier or off completely. With a over a decade spent incarcerated, he brushed up on the law, studying to appeal his conviction several times despite coming up short whenever probation was possible. His new goal upon being released is to stalk the Bowden family, harassing not only Sam, but Leigh and Danielle, pining to get close to the lawyer that he feels shortchanged him and resulted in a good portion of his life being taken away.
Max Cady is a devilishly interesting villain for a movie, and De Niro plays him with the kind of veteran experience necessary to fully realize his character. Equipped with more tattoos than a parlor, enough cigars to make an aficionado cough, and a thick-tongued southern accent, Cady blooms to life by way of scenes that build slowly to the climax. Screenwriter Wesley Strick illustrates Cady very humbly in his early scenes before letting loose in later scenes that help give the audiences the idea of how sick he really is. He's an ugly, brutal character, and the De Niro immerses himself in the role is exceptional.
The downside to Cady's portrayal, however, comes in the third act, when Strick decides to make the antagonist out to be an indestructible supervillain, capable of coming back repeatedly despite excessive abuse. Doing that loosens the strength of the realism behind Cady's quietly aggressive demeanor. One thing that never gets discarded is his ability to control a situation. A scene set in the drama theater of a school involving Cady and Danielle's brewing relationship with one another last well over five minutes, and give way to very talented acting on both parts. In the lengthy sequence, we see the depth of Cady's facade as well as Danielle's vulnerability coupled with the best thing she could offer the brooding psychopath - access to her father.
Nick Nolte also gives a performance similar to De Niro despite serving as the film's protagonist. It's the kind of performance you grow to appreciate the more you're exposed to it, admiring the little mannerisms found in Nolte's Sam that signify intent to protect not only himself but the safety and security of his family. He remains collected until he cannot, and with De Niro as a member of the supporting cast - someone who has worked alongside Scorsese on a plethora of projects from the genre-classic Goodfellas to lesser-known works like The King of Comedy - Nolte is assisted by a fellow veteran performer who knows exactly what keys to play when it comes to highlighting all of what Scorsese wants him to.
Cape Fear also has some of the most unique stylistic attributes found in any Scorsese movie to date. While the director's later films such as Goodfellas and Casino employed many Steadicam or lengthy tracking shots to provide smooth navigation and perspective in spacious environments, Scorsese opts for direction as unsteady as Cady himself. Throughout the film, his camera always seems to be moving, whether it's canting side-to-side, slowly zooming in on characters, or simply just looming or following a particular character's motions. The camera is always fluid, actively intensifying the environment as if to close in on the souls present in each scene.
Thematically, the film loans itself to the presence of biblical subtext, as do many of Scorsese's films. Another hallmark of his long, storied filmography is Scorsese's Catholic faith, which often acts as a pipeline that runs through nearly every film of the director's in some subtle or blunt fashion. In Cape Fear, there's reason to believe that Cady operates a bit like Jesus Christ, forcing Sam to confront his demons and his wrongdoings (in this case, Cady's harsh sentence). Cady's frequent reliance on biblical quotations, some of which even branded on his skin, and his recurring presence in Sam's life as he tries to push him to admit his mistake give the film's villain a lot more weight than just your average, run-of-the-mill psychopath. Of course, Cady is far from an embodiment of the Christian lord and savior due to his own unforgivable actions, but that only further complicates the way the character is positioned; he's someone that is totally wrong yet somehow functioning with a perceived moral high-ground over his old lawyer, turning him into the madman while maintaining his role as such.
Cape Fear is a bit of a nostalgia trip in the regard that it harkens back to when Scorsese's projects were not always based on a true story (although this film is a remake of the 1962 film that starred Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, both of whom have worthy supporting roles in this film), Nick Nolte could reasonably considered a handsome Hollywood star, and Robert De Niro didn't pick projects with roles he could easily phone-in and sleepwalk his way through. Intensely compelling, sometimes savagely brutal, and brimful thematically and stylistically, Cape Fear succeeds as one of Scorsese's most interesting films in a long, storied portfolio of masterworks.
Starring: Nick Nolte, Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, and Gregory Peck. Directed by: Martin Scorsese.