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After putting it off for years, I finally got around to watching this film last night... It was one of the most uncomfortable and deeply upsetting movies I think I’ve ever watched, and I really really loved it. What I assumed to be a relatively straightforward story about a delusional guy seeking fame at all costs ending up being a much more multifaceted story about a delusional guy looking for fame at all costs because every single person in his upbringing rejected him and the pursuit of fame and acceptance in the mainstream is the only way he can live with himself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something that made me curl up in my blankets in second-hand shame and embarrassment for a protagonist and their behavior like this movie did. Robert De Niro puts on a really meek and vulnerable performance for the bulk of the film- a jarring departure from his usual ‘tough, hardened figure’ roles- but he pulls it off excellently and, in my opinion, gives his best performance ever here. The rather bleak look at topics like celebrity worship and the willingness to give up everything for a shot at fame was relevant enough in the year it debuted (1982), to the point where audiences and critics really lashed out at the unsettling, perhaps “too-close-to-home” qualities of its protagonist (to this day it remains Scorsese’s biggest box office bomb ever by a wide margin) but I would argue that, after decades of watching countless people debase themselves on reality TV, and now when thousands upon thousands of people are completely willing to spill their personal lives, grievances, insecurities and vulnerabilities all over social media for the sake of a brief potential flicker of notoriety, this movie is even more powerful, hard-hitting and resonant in its messages than ever before. It also features this unsettling shot where Pupkin is made to appear like he’s inside of a television set that I really liked:  Have any of you seen this movie recently? How do you feel about it?
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Sep 10, 2018 00:33
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Cool, a thread that's not about superheroes or star wars. Anyway, I haven't seen the movie. Good luck with your thread, OP.
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Sep 10, 2018 09:19
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I love this movie. A lot has been said about how it's a spiritual successor to Taxi Driver and it's really true. I never knew it bombed and was disliked upon release, that's really surprising to me
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Sep 10, 2018 22:11
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discount cathouse posted:Cool, a thread that's not about superheroes or star wars. Anyway, I haven't seen the movie. Good luck with your thread, OP. Hey dick head your post sucks.
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Sep 10, 2018 22:12
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huh, i've never heard of this one. gonna check it out when i have some free time
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Sep 16, 2018 17:57
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Best Scorsese
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Sep 16, 2018 19:47
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Sandra Bernhard. Would? Or would not?
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Sep 22, 2018 21:33
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God Of Paradise posted:Sandra Bernhard. Would? Or would not? Did. Hooked up with her in Wilmington, NC back in 93-94 ish.
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Sep 22, 2018 22:57
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Michael Cimino was supposed to direct this but he got booted after asking for extra funding when he just got finished with the financial debacle that was Heaven's Gate. So we missed out on an opening half-hour sequence where Pupkin gets baptized and it adds loving nothing to the film. E: Also I read in a book about Scorsese's films that "The King of Comedy is interesting because it's not funny." I dunno. I laughed at a few bits.
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Sep 27, 2018 15:09
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I re-watched it recently and I never noticed the Morrie's Wigs guy from Goodfellas in the background of the dinner scene doing goofy poo poo. For real, what's up with that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4Rv3kHRQZo
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Oct 6, 2018 03:02
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Thank you for loving Pupkin.
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Oct 20, 2018 19:07
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scorcese is a lot more than a director of gangster films. i know this is already somewhat clear from popular scorcese films like taxi driver and gangs of new york. but he really does have a much broader range. the same (parallel) observation goes for de niro. and king of comedy does a lot to bring this out. the film's most residing insight about our modern mass-media entertainment culture--which has increasingly invaded everyone's private life--is that you're a fraud and an imbecile until the moment you cross a (shifting) imaginary line. if you manage to cross that line you suddenly become a genius. the criteria for success is arbitrary, fortuitous, and externally derived. and it makes psychotics and narcissists of us all. Zane fucked around with this message at 09:59 on Nov 5, 2018 |
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Nov 5, 2018 05:36
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