Film analysis on taxi driver

But while taxi driver is a cinematic masterpiece thats just as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago, the ending of the film has sparked quite a bit of debate. For a brief moment, you get a glimpse out the rear window of the cab. In both films, the heroes grow obsessed with rescuing women who may not, in fact, want to be rescued. After travis applies to be a taxi driver, he walks out of the dispatcher garage, and as he does so, the camera pans from right to left across the screen as the cabs drive right, in the opposite direction. Taxi driver to has been one of my alltime favorite films. That was arthur bremer, whose lonely, subterranean existence and hunger for attention appears to have been the main inspiration for a brutally disturbing film, taxi driver. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the movie taxi driver by director martin scorsese. Why we are locked in the back of taxi drivers mind film. Hes no longer writing dangerous thoughts in a diary, has elevated status amongst his peers, and is a hero to the media. Unlike most of the analysis found herewhich simply lists the unique individual story appreciationsthis indepth study details the actual encoding for each structural item.

It comes from watching the main character descend into insanity. Imagine hitchcocks psycho told from the point of view of its title character, and you have a rough idea of taxi driver. The scene i will analyse this week is from the 1976 martin scorsese film taxi driver with cinematography by michael chapman. Now equipped with a cab, travis begins making the rounds he seems to prefer the times square beat. The meaning of taxi driver is that our identity is defined by how others see us.

Travis gives a fake name and address in new jersey to a secret service agent after being promised forms to join the secret service, since he knows thats not the real reason the agent wants his address. Wizard and the other cabbies congregate at an allnight diner, hinting that they dont have families or stable home lives. This is a conversation that happens early in the film when travis is on a date with betsy cybil shepherd. References to eyes travis eyes in the rearview mirror the film opens with this travis stares at betsy i saw it in your eyes looks arent everything the character name, iris. The meaning of taxi driver is that our identity is defined by how others see us examples that support this taxi driver analysis references to eyes travis eyes in the rearview mirror the film opens with this travis stares at betsy. Robert diniro, the main character in the movie by the name of travis bickle, claims to be an ex marine and a vietnam war veteran who drives a. After the audience is shown a closeup of the bloodied body of. It features some of the best characterization i have ever seen in cinema, borrowing techniques from the french new wave movement to really warp the viewer in seeing the world through the main characters, travis bickle, perception. This also means it has been incorporated into the dramatica story expert application itself as an easily referenced contextual example. For him, he said that with taxi driver he was focused on the idea of loneliness, and how he felt a cab driver could represent that in a film. Taxi driver masculinity theory analysis taxi driver masculinity theory analysis released in 1976, the screenplay is set in a postvietnam war america. According to faraci, bickle most definitely survives the gunfight, and he isnt the only who. He talked pretty extensively about taxi driver, but the thing i remember him hammering a lot was about when he goes to write a screenplay, the first thing he looks for is an overarching metaphor. Find composition details, parts movement information and albums that contain performances of taxi driver, film score on allmusic.

Paul schrader clarified the screenwriting development process in an interview with richard thompson from 1976 when taxi driver had just opened, film comment, 1976 taxi driver is a very special case. Taxi driver is martin scorseses frighteningly plausible case history of such a person. The only true relationship in the film is between sport and iris, and that relationship is based on illegal exploitation. Violence is in the atmosphere in taxi driverthe whole city pulses with the threat. In the program notes cronenberg explained this choice by describing taxi driver as. The suspense doesnt come from a chase or a spy battle. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at seedy cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, new york in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool.

Taxi driver contains many shots of crowds, each person going in his or her own direction. Film critic devin faraci argues this interpretation profoundly misses the entire point of the ending of taxi driver, and it fundamentally denies the movie its complete message. Travis is not fully sane when the movie begins, and as the film progresses, his sanity deteriorates. The struggle for identity and commoditization in society in taxi driver. In 1983 director david cronenberg curated a science fiction retrospective for the toronto film festival and his provocative selections included martin scorseses 1976 masterpiece taxi driver. Just as taxi driver arouses uncertain interpretations, the film itself opens in a haze. Taxi drivers penultimate scene also alludes to billy wilders 1950 film sunset boulevard. To some extent, this view of new york reflects traviss warped, isolated perspective, but he is not alone in feeling lonely. There are undercurrents in the film that you can sense without quite putting your finger on them. Through the cinematography we only truly see new york through the taxi cab passing by. Taxi driver literature essays are academic essays for citation. Written by paul schrader, taxi driver is an homage to and reworking of cinematic influences, a study of individual psychosis, and an acute diagnosis of the latently violent, mediafixated vietnam era. Roger ebert, the wellknown film critic for the chicago suntimes, wrote taxi driver is a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene in which the camera finally looks straight down.

Theres not a ticking time bomb hidden somewhere in the city because the ticking time bomb is the main character. The following analysis reveals a comprehensive look at the storyform for taxi driver. Taxi driver analysis film analysis and interpretation. Over the last month, and frequently on twitter, cinephiles have been engaged in a heated debate about the new film from martin scorsese, the uproarious financialsector opus the wolf of wall street. Of course the people we see are the typical crowd that hang out in these areas. Travis bickle is an exmarine and vietnam war veteran living in new york city. In general, the shots in taxi driver are slow and deliberate. The point of contention is whether wolf, with its endless and exhausting parade of debauchery, is glorifying its filthyrich, swindling protagonists or condemning them. This riveting 1976 film is at once a thriller, a psychological case study, an exploration of the eroticism of violence, a political commentary and a. Feeling sympathy for a flawed protagonist in taxi driver. The new york we see in taxi driver is the cheap shady bars, strip clubs, 24 hour liquor stores and adult movie cinemas. He becomes a night taxi driver because he cant sleep at night. Story judgment while travis is still a lonely guy, and one with psychopathic tendencies, at storys end he is a more relaxed taxi driver. Travis implied feelings about blacks, for example, which emerge in two long shots in a taxi drivers hangout, when he exchanges looks with a man who may be a drug dealer.

M artin scorseses 1976 neonlit ordeal shocker taxi driver is back once again to deliver another. Taeksi unjeonsa is a 2017 south korean historical action drama film directed by jang hoon and written by eom yuna, with song kangho starring in the title role, alongside thomas kretschmann based on a reallife story, the film centers on a taxi driver from seoul who unintentionally becomes involved in the events of the. Travis says that he has to clean blood off the backseat of his cab some nights, and encounters a crazy passenger who wants to murder his own wife for cheating on him. Originally, he comes from an unspecified rural area. Bond clothing, on the right in the taxi driver still, was once one of the most memorable buildings in times square.

Why we are locked in the back of taxi drivers mind. It is a widely known item of cinematic lore that paul schraders screenplay for taxi driver was inspired by the searchers, john fords 1956 film. Sewer steam billows from below as, in the first shot, a taxicab emerges from out of the fog. Nevertheless, critics adored the film and knew that they had seen something special. Classic noirchiaroscuro lighting is used here to convey the night life around some of the rougher areas of new york. The man is travis bickle, exmarine, veteran of vietnam, composer of dutiful anniversary notes to his parents, taxi driver, killer. Taxi driver 1976 out of 4 scorseses masterpiece is a raw, powerful and nerve wrecking look at depression and loneliness. In taxi driver, this psychological profile is explored, and it gets pretty uncomfortable. In much the same way that chinatown pastiches the plots and thematics of many films noir, taxi driver borrows many of films stylistic features, changes their stories to fit a contemporary society, and even turns to those artistic movements which anticipated and influenced the initial development of film noir. Taxi driver is one of the most iconic hollywood films of its time, and of all time.

A director can use miseenscene by simply letting the script guide how the film looks, and use quite an unobtrusive style. Taxi driver is the fevered story of an outsider in new yorka man who cant find any point of entry into human society. Audiences had modest expectations for taxi driver when it was first released in the winter of 1976. Of course, not everyone buys the it was all a dream theory. She says he reminds her of a kris kristofferson song, and emphasizes the line about walking contradictions. A director can interpret a script in many different ways, by imposing a certain style onto the story it can be perceived differently. Nominated for four oscars, the film was almost universally acclaimed, lauded by the library of congress, and won the prestigious palm dor at the 1976 cannes film festival.