From 1 till 22 december 2015 a mini restropective of 6 Martin Scorsese films is being held at Flagey. There’s also a Rock Night on 02jan16 with screenings of The Last Waltz and Shine A Light , you can find the complete schedule below:

http://www.cinematek.be/?node=17&event_id=100190101#sthash.eAoAl4hg.dpbs

I’ve prepared the below video showcasing his love for flashbulbs and camera clicks. It shows a lot of examples from Scorsese’s films plus from the films that were a source of inspiration for him.

We start of with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Scorsese’s 9 and a half minute commercial The Key to Reserva which is one extended homage to the cinema of the British master of suspense. We single out the flashbulb and blinding effect Scorsese lovingly copied.

Next, a couple of scenes from Fellini’s Otto e Mezzo (8 1/2) and his segment Toby Dammit. (I could have included some scenes from La dolce Vita which features many papparazzi, after all this film invented the term) and some parts of Scorsese’s homage in his Bleu the Chanel commercial entitled The Film (in one minute Scorsese manages to pay tribute to both Fellini and Antonioni’s Blow-Up).
This segment ends with James Gray’s (Little Odessa, The Yards) Bleu the Chanel commercial paying homage to Scorsese’s tribute also using Gaspard Ulliel. Please pay close attention to the short freeze frame of a girl who puts 2 hands on the front windshield of the car mirroring the extended freeze frame with Sandra Bernhard’s hands from the opening of The King of Comedy which is shown later in the clip.

Followed by some more examples from Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Casino culminating in a highly baroque use of his and editor Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing techinques involving lightbulb flashes and camera clinking sounds in The Aviator. The Aviator is one of the six film you can (re)discover in the retrospective.

We end of the montage with P.T. Anderson’s nod to Scorsese in Boogie Nights, a similar use of the same techniques from an ISIS propaganda film and to end in style an extreme slomo of a lightbulb burnout.

You may notice in some parts the picture and sound are not in synch but there’s nothing I could do to prevent it. One day I’ll make a more professional looking version.

Jan Bollen