Silence is golden, especially when Martin Scorsese is planted in the director’s chair.
The Oscar-winning director is famous for including iconic songs in his films — “Goodfellas” had “Layla,” “Casino” had “House of the Rising Sun,” “The Departed” had “Gimme Shelter” — but, as this intriguing new mash-up from Scorsese fan Tony Zhou highlights, the filmmaker is quite comfortable with silence, too.
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Zhou cut together silent shots and scenes from nearly fifty years worth of Scorsese films for a video essay in which Zhou discusses the use of silence in film, and the result is astounding.
“Even though Martin Scorsese is famous for his use of music, one of his best traits is his deliberate and powerful use of silence,” Zhou says, in his Vimeo description for the video essay. “Take a glimpse at fifty years of this simple technique from one of cinema’s masters.”
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Scorsese’s obsession with sound and the lack thereof aren’t limited to days of yore, either.
He and Mick Jagger are currently executive producing an untitled rock ‘n’ roll project for HBO; Ray Romano is attached to star. Also, he’s slated to direct “Silence” with Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield in 2015.
It should be interesting to see how Scorsese utilizes silence in those.
