Moving Pictures

The Master

NOVEMBER BRINGS A LOW- KEY SCORSESE RETROSPECTIVE TO HBO MAX

BY JOE NOLAN, FILM CRITIC

HBO Max and Martin Scorsese are giving Nashville cinephiles several reasons to hunker down at home this November. My inbox is constantly humming with the news of the latest shows and movies coming to streaming platforms, and as I was glancing at the offerings coming to HBO Max for Thanksgiving month, I made an interesting discovery: the platform isn’t making a big deal about it, but HBO Max is currently hosting a Martin Scorsese slate that includes feature masterpieces, experimental shorts and even a documentary. It’s a supremely watchable selection from the master’s massive filmography, and a great way to spend a chilly evening — or three — at home.

Martin Scorsese’s short film, “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” (1964) was made while the director was a student at New York University, and it’s fun to see how much of his future filmography is already on display in this early fifteen minute movie. Murray is a middle-aged gangster relating the story of his rise to power. The tale unspools in flashbacks with voice over narration illuminating Murray’s humble beginnings as a Prohibition-era bootlegger and introducing his backstabbing best friend, Joe. The actors regularly talk to the camera and break character, and even the filmmakers can be heard arguing about the film’s editing in real time. It’s a super ambitious character study with all the grit, style and humor we still find in Scorsese’s best work. “’Murray!” also features a young Andrea Martin in the role of Murray’s wife.

Martin Scorsese’s own mother, Catherine, plays Murray’s mom in “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” It’s her first appearance in one of her son’s films, but it’s not her last. Catherine Scorsese pops-up all over Scorsese’s oeuvre, and she’s unforgettable in her iconic turn as Joe Pesci’s mom in Goodfellas. Catherine plays herself in Scorsese’s Italianamerican (1974) documentary, and her energetic, humorous, natural charms speak to her effortless-seeming onscreen turns. Italianamerican is an abbreviated feature at just 45 minutes, but it’s plenty of time for the director to interview his own parents in their New York apartment as they tell the story of how the Scorsese’s came to America from Sicily. The family pictures and the hardscrabble immigrant tales bring the early 20th century to life through the experiences of Scorsese’s ancestors. It’s fascinating stuff, but the best bits of Italianamerican are the Scorseses themselves as they bicker and bait and joke and laugh and argue and reminisce with one another while Catherine shares her famous tomato sauce and meatballs recipe. Italianamerican is currently streaming on HBO MAX.

“The Big Shave” (1967) is another early Scorsese short, but this non-narrative film is much more experimental and formalist than “It’s Not Just You, Murray!” It’s clear that by 1967 Scorsese’s filmmaking took a decidedly radical turn, and two years after the release of this short Scorsese was upstate, working as an assistant director and editor on the Woodstock film. “The Big Shave” opens in a sparkling white-tiled bathroom — even the shower curtain is white and Scorsese treats viewers to closeups of the gleaming metal fixtures. A young man in a crisp white T-shirt steps into the bathroom to the swinging strains of Bunny Berigan’s “I Can’t Get Started.” The young man takes off his shirt and lathers his face for the titular shave. Scorsese’s practicing at his virtuoso montages here, mixing close-ups of the razor, reflections in the mirror and water swirling down the drain all cut to the rhythm of the upbeat music. When the young man begins to shave for a second time things quickly go from weird to worse as Scorsese delivers his version of a horror film, delivering an anti-war message and earning the film’s alternate title, “Viet ‘67.” Now streaming on HBO MAX.

HBO MAX is also currently streaming Scorsese’s boxing masterpiece, Raging Bull (1980) and his underrated Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator (2004) comes to the platform on Nov. 30.