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U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio), left, interrogates Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) in “Shutter Island.” |
The scariest parts of Martin Scorsese’s surrealistically creepy thriller “Shutter Island” aren’t the sudden shocks, or the terrifying visions, or the bizarre revelations, or even the vanishing bodies.
As you watch “Shutter Island,” a palpable sense of paranoia slowly tightens around your throat like an invisible wire noose.
Tighter.
Tighter.
Tighter. Until you feel just as trapped, as frightened, as confused and as helpless as the U.S. marshal at the center of Scorsese’s waking nightmare.
I am sure other critics will make this obvious connection, but “Shutter Island” is to Scorsese what “The Shining” is to the late Stanley Kubrick: a stylish, artful study in the power of escalating dread.
The comparisons between “Shutter Island” and “The Shining” are appropriate, and not necessarily all positive.
Both films are beleaguered by cold, unfathomable main characters we can’t quite access or truly get to know.
But that’s all right, because these movies aren’t about relating to the main characters. They’re all about two master moviemakers slumming in a “lesser” genre who know just how to ratchet up the tension by plying their knowledge of film and storytelling to create a dark and disorienting experience that will leave us exhausted.
“Shutter Island,” faithfully adapted by Laeta Kalogridis from a 2003 Dennis Lehane best-seller, brings U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Scorsese favorite Leonardo DiCaprio) to an island outside of Boston on what appears to be a missing persons case in 1954. (Read more…)