I've talked at great length before about my admiration for Martin Scorsese - my first article for the site was even dedicated to his brilliance - but with this article I want to present a microcosm of his finest works. His career is over 40 years long and he is regularly regarded as one of the greatest directors who ever lived, so the idea of narrowing his entire body of work into just 10 entries was very enticing (and highly daunting). I've seen all of his movies multiple times and he truly has one of the greatest resumes in all of film. He has tackled many different genres like biopics, gangster films, thrillers, character studies, comedies, children's films and documentaries, and each new film in his legacy is immediately recognizable as a Scorsese movie. His style is very dark yet alluring at the same time. He presents characters and events that are tragic in nature but there is always an underlying bit of humor to whatever he makes. Scorsese is a true master of cinema: I now present to you 10 masterpieces that he has made over the course of his career...
10. The Last Waltz
Scorsese has made many music documentaries but this is his earliest and best. The concert footage by itself would make this film more than watchable since it features one of the greatest rock and roll shows ever captured on, film but what really sets it apart is the mid-song band interviews. The film frequently cuts from the stage to show The Band themselves discussing their career and why exactly they no longer want to continue. These scenes are what elevate the documentary above the usual and really show Scorsese's diversity as a director. The way that he captures the relationship between the members of The Band is brutally honest at some moments, but it really gives the viewer insight into the musicians as real people. Scorsese had made only narrative films up to this point and with The Last Waltz he proved that his mastery of cinema was much farther reaching.