After Hours (1986)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  10 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Martin Scorsese has a love-affair with exploring the city - New York in particular of course - and whilst his most famous exploration of the affects of urban life are to be seen in 'Taxi Driver,' I would argue they're most brilliantly examined in his and screenwriter Joseph Minion's underrated gem 'After Hours.' This is a film which brings to life everyone's worst fears about the sprawling metropolis they live in; a picture that confirms that beneath the lifeless surface of the hundreds of places and faces is just as little - if not less - life and compassion as there appears to be.
  
  That sounds highly depressing, and it would be were it not for the fact that that's all revealed to us throughout the course of one horrifying night in which a very ordinary word processor called Paul winds up encountering burglary, death, and countless strangers who he places his trust in only for them to let him down under the most absurd and (in the blackest kind of way) amusing sets of circumstances. The script unravels masterfully with the spiralling anxiety and helplessness ever-growing (helped by a great score from the brilliant Howard Shore) all whilst maintaining bags of black humour, and Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus brings the gritty reality of Soho to life brilliantly such that it reflects and enhances the poison and hostility of the people Paul encounters.
  
  It really is masterfully constructed to translate its central theme perfectly, but the reason you're invested in that - and ultimately on the edge of your seat - is because Paul himself is brought to life so well. He's constantly the victim of the malevolence of others, and with a masterful performance from Griffin Dunne you'll be absolutely hooked longing for him to make it ok to the morning. The way the film then ends broadcasting the sheen of the normality of everyday city life against what's just happened behind its grey curtains is utterly genius. This really is one of Scorsese's very best films, and it's a crying shame it doesn't get more love.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Perhaps the only criticism is that it does broadcast a very cynical world-view indeed, but this really is one of those films that's almost impossible to fault for what it is.
  
  VERDICT: Scorsese delves into the cold beating heart of urban life and reveals the hostility of its veneer is every bit as real as it appears. 'After Hours,' is his ultimate depiction of New York, and deserves much more attention than it gets.

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