Here’s Martin Scorsese yet again showing his support for Ti West whose “MaXXXine,” decently received by critics and audiences, is nowhere near the best work of his career.
Back in 2022, West’s stock was bumped considerably higher due to Scorsese’s praise of “Pearl.” The legendary filmmaker called it “wild,” “mesmerizing” and “deeply disturbing.” Penning a letter to A24, Scorsese wrote:
I was enthralled, then disturbed, then so unsettled that I had trouble getting to sleep. But I couldn't stop watching.
Scorsese, a clear fan of West’s filmography, is now doubling down on his admiration for West, telling the New York Times that the “X” trilogy represented a “different type of horror, related to different eras in American moviemaking.”
The first, “X,” is “the ’70s, the slasher era”; “Pearl” is “’50s melodrama in vivid saturated color; “MaXXXine” is “’80s Hollywood, rancid, desperate.” They are, Scorsese wrote, “three linked stories set within three different moments in movie culture, reflecting back on the greater culture.” By smuggling thoroughly modern ideas into films that were also steeped in the aesthetics of the past, Scorsese thought, West had done “something bold and thoroughly cinematic”.
It turns out that 2011’s “The Innkeepers” was the first West film to catch Scorsese’s eye; after seeing it, “I thought: OK, I want to see everything this guy does.”
The film reminded Scorsese of the work of Val Lewton. The amazing thing about “The Innkeepers,” Scorsese tells the NYT, was that “you could eliminate the ghost story and the film would work without it, which echoes the way Val Lewton made his films: He always made sure that the core story had to stand on its own, apart from the supernatural elements.”
Of all the filmmakers out there, I would have never bet Scorsese would zero in on West. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked some of West’s films, but there are far better and more talented filmmakers to support out there.
While we’re at it, check out West’s best film, which isn’t “The Inkeepers,” but rather 2016’s underrated “In A Valley of Violence” — a grisly homage to classic westerns, filled with absurdist humor, starring John Travolta and Ethan Hawke. It’s a smartly conceived film that also happens to be West’s most restrained and subtle work to date.