Gangs of New York

[louiselux]

Oh wow. I watched Gangs of New York last night. Daniel Day-Lewis stole that film - he was stunning. From the very first shot you see of him he lights up the screen and you think who the hell is *this*? I can't think of another perfomance quite like it. The character of Bill Cutting should have been risible- everything about him was ridiculous, from his butchery obsession to his clothes, moustache and hair. He could so easily have been a two dimensional baddie, but he wasn't - he had depth, and was deeply scary, yet like all the best baddies you're in danger of falling in love with him. And I'm sure Day-Lewis threw in some cheeky De Niro impressions along the way, as a little hommage. De Niro was apparently up for the part back when the film was originally supposed to be made, in the 1970's.

This is really a film to sit and watch a few times. Besides the main plot there were so many little historical notes, like the competing fire engine crews, and the street slang, and the fashions! And the history of Five Points itself was fascinating.

Trivia fact: Johnny was played by the actor who played Elliot in ET!

Comments

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

I also liked it because the movie was actually trying to make a statement about history and the formation of national identity, which you don't see much any more

Yes, one of the things that stood out was the way Bill Cutting's gang was referred to as the 'Native Americans'. There was no apparent irony there, or a mention of the real native americans.

One of my very favourite things about this film was the way it showed the violence, poverty and corruption that people just took for granted, poor people, that is, the people who built the city and supported the wealthy. It made me think of the world's modern cities, especially those with large underclasses living in poverty, and how life is probably not that much different for them to those lives shown in the film.