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Taxi Driver (1976)
 
Review
Martin Scorsese's universally
hailed combined mood piece and character study from the night streets of
New York City has remained compelling for half a century. We
follow young cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) around on duty, where
he falls into a downward spiral of mistrust, disgust, and ultimately
complete isolation and alienation leading to extremist thoughts. The
picture doesn’t look timeless – it has an aesthetic and an artlessness
which affirms Scorsese’s low budget and relative inexperience at the
time – but there is an undeniable thematic timelessness in the portrait
of Bickle and his challenges, both the perceived and the factual ones.
And Scorsese helps him along by creating a dark-lit, trancelike
aesthetic which accentuates every form of decay and decadence he can
point out. Through Travis Bickle, human goodness is put to the test. He
is a man caught in a perpetual search for just a fragment of meaning in
a life he has already given up. And De Niro's lead performance is
consummate. He delves into Travis Bickle with heart and soul, and at no
point can you separate the actor from the character. Only a young Marlon
Brando could have done this better. Add to that the perfectly cast 12-year-old
Jodie Foster as the child prostitute. There arguably was no other actress her age who could convey
the same rare combination of risqué worldliness and childish disregard. Taxi Driver
is almost devoid of optimism, which of course is why you cling onto the
small rays of light it offers – lurking underneath, sometimes seeping to
the surface, a vague hope for something better.
Re-reviewed:
Copyright © 11.11.2023 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
Original review:
Copyright © 13.12.2003
Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
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