Saw Mean Streets, a colorful film by Scorsese. It followed the adventures of a small-time businessman on the fringes of organized crime. His hands are clean, but his friends' hands are not. He struggles to get ahead and to help his gambling-addicted relation (their precise relationship was probably explained, but I missed its exact nature) to stay straight. I may be reading too much into this film (I don't really like gangster films and was idly digging into its (possibly imagined) symbolism) but I felt this struggle is given a slightly religious tinge. Several times, Roman Catholic imagery is shown (which may be unavoidable in an accurate portrayal of Italian-American life) and the protagonist loudly proclaims that "St Francis of Assisi had the right idea." Familial relationships are prominent, references to fathers especially, and the protagonist is (shall we say) quite self-sacrificing. Especially when it comes to his gambling friend.
The protagonist is fascinated by the concept of hell, going so far as to often stick his hand into open flames, perhaps to simulate the inferno. He talks also of the spiritual hell which seems, for him, to take the form of constant, low-grade desperation. He seems trapped by tradition and obligation, trapped in a relationship with a woman he doesn't particularly like and kowtowing to his mob-boss uncle for favors and handouts. He wants to talk back, against these impositions, but stops his mouth with a fiery red napkin.
The film is gorgeously colored, technicolor (possibly) being still new and exciting at this point, and I noticed a theme of red white and blue throughout the film. the film opens on a random junky in a blue jean jacket worn over a red-n-white stripped shirt and ends with a doctor in white, a cop in blue, and red blood. The gangsters seem to inhabit clubs lit entirely by infernal red lights. At one point they take a walk through a graveyard of very white stones, perhaps symbolizing death or purity. I don't know what all of this is in aid of however, beyond a sort of "Look! This is America!" message, which I think is a bit silly (America is pretty much just gangsters having a hard life, didn't you know?) but I am smug in my identification of this theme, so I won't complain. Also, by the way, there's some nice long-takes, if you're into that.
A brutish film about brutish men. I didn't really like it, but it was smarter than it seemed at first blush and well done.
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