Sleeper Recs: Shutter Island

“Sleeper Rec” Rules:

• · Not nominated for Best Picture

• · Under $200 Million U.S. Box Office

• · Regardless of genre, I’d recommend these films to almost anyone

Year Released: 2010

Runtime: 138 minutes

Directed: Martin Scorsese

Produced: Martin Scorsese, Denise Lehane, Bradley J. Fischer

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Michelle Williams

Oscars: No nominations or wins.

IMDb Plot Summary: In 1954, a U.S. Marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.

Context, Context, Context: What Created Shutter Island, and why it’s a Sleeper Rec

Scorsese, Leo, and Thrillers. Originally a novel of the same name written by Dennis Lehane in 2003, the script bounced around several Hollywood studios before eventually finding its way across Scorsese’s desk. Scorsese and Leo, having already done three films together – the most recent of which, The Departed, won Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars – decided to make it four. The cast that Scorsese assembled for this production is nearly as prestigious as the one of The Departed. At 68, Scorsese was continuing to explore different genres (something he’s still doing at 79) as he had never done this type of psychological thriller despite having dabbled with the criminally insane in films such as Taxi Driver and Cape Fear. It also has the most straight-up horror influences of any of his work, and the film being structured around its late twist places it into a rare category of Hollywood story. With Martin Scorsese, however, comes a guarantee of an immediate elevation to a higher level of art form, especially given that he brought back frequent collaborators like legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker.

Shutter Island as a Sleeper Rec. No Oscar nominations and $128 million at the domestic box office comfortably fits within the “Sleeper Rec” rules, yet still represented one of Scorsese’s most lucrative films. I think there were a few things preventing this movie from becoming the smash-hit that it should have. Firstly, it was released in February, which is traditionally the dumping ground for horror films as opposed to significant events. Once released, the film received mixed reviews from critics, likely because the key piece of information, only revealed at the end of the movie, explains all the strange and/or incoherent parts of the film up to that point. A critic who only saw it once may have been caught up in the wrong things, but the reviews matter in a 2010 movie year that stands among the best of the 21st century. With 10 months of better-reviewed (and some actually better) movies, including a much more widely seen and loved movie where Leonardo DiCaprio is haunted by his dead wife while not being sure of his reality, this film was completely snubbed by the Oscars. In the years since its release, with the chance for multiple watches, fans have come to appreciate this film for the multilayered, exceptionally detailed work of art that it is. Intentional continuity/editing errors, odd dialogue, and gnawing paranoia play insanely differently and much more tragically the second time through once you know that DiCaprio is in fact Andrew Laeddis, the delusional and violent 67th patient and the subject of an asylum-wide roleplaying experiment meant to uncover and disprove Laeddis’ delusions. On first watch, the movie is a deeply psychological and suspenseful thriller; on future watches, it's a psychological and tragic character study of a deeply wounded man.

The Story and its Characters

Paranoid ambiguity. There is a growing sense of weirdness throughout the film that works in tandem with the growing and changing information that “Daniels” is receiving, including constantly shifting reasons for why he is there and what exactly is happening on Shutter Island. However, knowing the truth, what we are witnessing is Laeddis sinking into his own delusions – here’s how the film does double duty, and everything takes on a new meaning on rewatch:

• · First watch. Teddy Daniels is a U.S. Marshal alongside his partner, Chuck, who investigates a missing patient at Shutter Island. His wife died in a fire started by Andrew Laeddis, but she appears to him in dreams and visions to guide him along. As the film goes on, he reveals to Chuck he wanted to investigate theories of dark deeds on the island; something he is sensitive to after witnessing the atrocities of the Holocaust. After Chuck goes missing, Daniels searches for him in the lighthouse where the lobotomies are performed and where Laeddis is. There is a slow escalation of paranoia, suspense, and thriller elements.

• · Future watches. The whole facility is participating in a role-playing exercise based off the delusions of former U.S. Marshal Andrew Laeddis to disprove them and bring him back to reality; Dr. Sheehan will pretend to be his new partner, Chuck. Therefore, the entire staff is walking on eggshells to keep the fantasy just alive enough while controlling their most dangerous patient. He killed his wife after she drowned their children, and his dreams and hallucinations are protecting the delusion itself. The plot that Laeddis begins to investigate is something the staff are aware of, and so they guide him to the lighthouse to deliver the truth. There is a tragic sense of inevitability following Laeddis this time, while we also have a new source of tension: the staff maintaining the illusion.

• · Fire and Water. This is something to find on future watches, but the use of fire and water in this film is downright literary. Water is a reminder for Laeddis of what happened with his wife, and he appears to be visibly suffering whenever water is in the frame. Fire, on the other hand, works in tandem with Laeddis’ delusions and as a source of comfort for him.

The performances. This is an all-star cast, and they give all-star performances – especially considering they were telling the “first watch” story and the “future watches” story in the same movie, in the same scene, with the same singular performances. This movie has bit parts from character actor greats such as John Carroll Lynch and Elias Koteas who are quite memorable in their scenes. Max von Sydow leans into the Nazi-related suspicion that Laeddis casts on him – on rewatch, you realize that the actor isn’t just doing this, but the character as well. Michelle Williams shows terrific range as Dolores, who is disturbing yet pitiful in the film’s most upsetting scene: the revelation of her crimes. On rewatch, Ben Kingsley is giving one of the most nuanced performances in the entire film, as the lines of dialogue that may have felt a little contrived the first time are actual expressions of concern or gentle provocations that are testing Laeddis’ delusions and self-control. Likewise, Mark Ruffalo’s rather subdued performance reflects the truth of his character, which only gets revealed by the end of the film; he’s known Laeddis and his delusions for two years.

Yet again, Leo turns in a fantastic leading performance, one that was quickly upstaged by Inception’s premiere later this same year. He is utterly gripping in a movie in which he is in every single scene, demonstrating incredible emotional range that perfectly gets us to buy into his delusions, obsessions, and trauma the first time through, while emphasizing the trauma and tragedy of his fate on rewatch – an awfully hard line to walk, that only one of the best in the business ever could.

Technicalities

Let Marty Cook. Scorsese’s artistic touch elevates would have been an interesting yet forgettable thriller into an artistic product that has only grown in estimation with the passing years. If you ever need a reminder of what a master filmmaker Scorsese is, this movie – even just the dream sequences alone – will remind you. He is in utter command of color, composition, staging, and blocking, and Thelma Schoonmaker gives him the rapid-fire, sometimes disorienting editing that this film demands. The two of them also create a constantly moving pace that matches what we come to realize is a disturbed mind. Scorsese also chooses classical music for much of the soundtrack, and classical-sounding music for the score to not only nod to/evoke Hitchcockian suspense and dread, but to add to the timelessness of this film. Watching one of the five best filmmakers of all time flex his artistic muscles in a lean, mean genre thriller and have his way with it is just a joy.

John’s Highlight Reel

• · Entering Ashcliffe. The first watch: the dread is built up spectacularly through escalating music, after some lingered-on tension from the guards that feels important; our sense of paranoia has been triggered. Future watches: we immediately sympathize with the guards – what might the most dangerous patient around do?

• · Dachau. While this memory is slowly pieced together over a span of time, it is one of the most artistically flashy and emotionally resonant sequence in a film that’s chock full of them. The first watch: this complete and accurate memory explains why Daniels is a tough guy with a particular sensitivity to Nazis. Future watches: knowing that the (brilliantly staged) execution of the guards is made up, we assume that some other pieces of this memory are made up; we’re not only seeing how Laeddis became sensitive to Nazi plots, but how he was put on the road to his eventual insanity. We’re also seeing what Laeddis might wish had happened that day, meaning his delusions have affected his memory.

• · Dreams. These don’t really change in meaning or tone with future watches, except we know the sad truth about the haunted mind they take place in. The second one is an equal split between artistic statement and psychological horror, but the first one is among the most visually beautiful, emotionally powerful sequences that Scorsese filmed in the last decade.

• · Ward C. This scene doesn’t change much of its meaning on rewatch (albeit with a different interpretation of George Noyce’s dialogue, played terrifically by Jackie Earle Haley), it’s just evidence that Scorsese can make whatever genre of movie that he pleases, even as he nears the twilight of his career.

• · Rachel in the cave. The first watch: this exposition-heavy but well-acted and well-shot scene finally reveals the truth of the island, and the information Daniels receives kicks the growing paranoia and sense of conspiracy into a higher gear moving forward. Future watches: this is perhaps the most vivid and delusional hallucination that Laeddis has, and it sadly reveals just how deeply his trauma has distorted his perception, and how hard it will be for the truth to get through to him. The framing of this scene also lends credence to the idea of fire being a symbol for the delusions.

• · The truth in the lighthouse. No matter which time this is watching the movie, the thoroughness and length of this dialogue-heavy scene is quite a change of pace for the story, but utterly necessary to disprove all doubts. First time: our skepticism of what Dr. Cawley is saying slowly gives way as the facts seem to add up, but there is a tiny seed of doubt lingering in the back of our mind. Future watches: we’ve been waiting for this moment all along, and this is the ultimate payoff of the subtle hints throughout the film that we’ve been eagerly looking for instead of trying to keep up with a story whose ending we already know.

• · “Which is worse?” What a final impression. In the final 30 minutes of the film, the true conflict is revealed: Laeddis’ inner conflict to come to terms with the truth about himself, his wife’s actions, and his crime. This conflict is seemingly resolved before getting opened back up with some of Laeddis’ final lines, then is swiftly and tragically resolved again in the subtext of performance and the film’s fantastic final line.

Came for _____, Stayed for ______

Leo and the first watch. How can you not be interested in this based on pedigree of the cast and concept? I was and continue to be quite impressed with Leo’s performance, and as he has only grown more selective in his projects over the years, this project continues to be among his best of the decade and among the most interesting of his career.

Scorsese and the future watches. The more I grew to appreciate films that are stylishly made, the more I’ve come to love Scorsese. He merges mainstream genre and storytelling with artistic flair that is right up on the edge of accessible for most audiences in a way that’s truly special, and he’s done it for decades. Watching him tear into this psychological thriller genre with his skill and verve is a real treat, and the amount of multilayered detail he coaches out of his actors and collaborators is how the “future watches” of the exact same scene can cohesively take on a whole new meaning and tone; in someone else’s hands, this wouldn’t be possible.