Part of Weekend Classics
Robert De Niro teams up with director Martin Scorsese to create one of cinema’s eternal masterpieces. Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, this contemporary classic is “ambitious, violent, poetic and lyrical” (New York Times). De Niro turns in a powerful, Best Actor Oscar®-winning performance as Jake La Motta, a boxer whose psychological and sexual complexities erupt into violence both in and out of the ring. Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty co-star.
Approved by director Martin Scorsese, this new master was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm three-track magnetic track. Transfer supervisor: Martin Scorsese, Thelma Schoonmaker. Colourist: Gregg Garvin/Roundabout Entertainment, Burbank, CA.
“From the first shot of a nearly disembodied De Niro, alone in the ring, jogging in slow-mo, his face obscured by the hood of his robe, like a monk in Rossellini’s THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS, you know that for Scorsese, this is the big one, the title fight, and it’s only art that’s at stake. The sense of risk is palpable and the payoff is exhilarating…. A fusion of Hollywood genre with personal vision couched in images and sounds that are kinetic and visceral, and closer to poetry than pulp. Its sculptural weight can only be appreciated on the big screen.” —Amy Taubin, The Village Voice “A master class in pain inflicted on oneself and one’s loved ones, as well as one’s opponents. The use of pop and opera and the black-and-white photography are exemplary, the actual boxing a compulsive dance of death.” —Ben Walters, Time Out (London)
