Shutter Island, a study in old thrillers

Scary...not really. Plot twists...a big one. Great performances...all around including a very brief but excellent performance by Patricia Clarkson. References to past movies...like watching a "Where's Waldo" book.

The Columbus Film Guild attended the most recent Scorsese flick, "Shutter Island." Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, the movie gave us much to talk about. Paying homage to so many past thriller classics like "King Kong" and "Vertigo," we spent an hour discussing all the references ... I even rented "I Walked with a Zombie" to see what Anthony Lane/The New Yorker and John Anderson/WSJ were referencing when they said the film was similar to this old thriller from the 40's. And much to Shannon Duffy's, Laura Rees's and my delight, the film was not dreadfully scary, because even though they set us up for huge scares (see the trailer), there was never any payoff. A poor effort by the marketing team when trailers do not align well with their movie, but those of us that want to sleep through the night still appreciated this big shortcoming over what was advertised. SPOILER ALERT: Columbus Film Guild Member Paul Hill enjoyed seeing it a second time to note all the places where we were tipped off about Teddy Daniels' sanity. I never saw the ending coming, but about half the Guild did. As to the film's length, almost all the Columbus Film Guild members said it was far too long. The two members of the Columbus Film Guild with children, (I'm not sure whether this was coincidence or not), really hated the great detail of the children at the lake. I personally felt like it could have been a little less graphic and not affected the film at all. Shutter Island was the most confounding Scorsese film yet, and still has me thinking about it.

Join us for the next Columbus Film Guild movie viewing, March 28th. Film and time TBD.