4 ms·

It sucks that Kon felt slighted, but there really is no such thing as 'too much homage'. Scorsese's The Departed is a shot-for-shot remake of Infernal Affairs a

It sucks that Kon felt slighted, but there really is no such thing as 'too much homage'. Scorsese's The Departed is a shot-for-shot remake of Infernal Affairs and also his first Oscar. It's how art gets mades.

fenomas 5y ago
The Departed was a licensed remake. Its producers bought and paid for the rights to remake the original.
- bigcat123 5y ago
- ZeroGravitas 5y ago
  Who did they buy the rights from, and who made the original worth copying? In music you often get people sampling a song due to percussion or production and the lyricist or just some random dude getting paid.
rurban 5y ago
A shot for shot for remake yes, but much longer. Scorsese clearly has no idea how to do better editing. And I wouldn't call The Departed art, rather a showcase how much worse Hollywood cinema is, compared to original art.
- brenainn 5y ago
  I'd also argue Infernal Affairs has a far superior ending.
  - rurban 5y ago
    I had a lot to critizise on Scorcese then. In German-only unfortunately: https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/ https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/
jbigelow76 5y ago
...and also his first Oscar. I've read a couple things over the years that the win for The Departed is a sort of make-up from the Academy for Scorsese losing Best Director for Raging Bull in '81 to Robert Redford (for "Ordinary People", who remembers that?) and for Goodfellas in '91 to Kevin Costner (for "Dances with Wolves", who WANTS to remember that?)
- BeetleB 5y ago
  Having seen both, Ordinary People is definitely the better movie. Goodfellas vs Dances With Wolves: A tie. Sorry, there really are people who really liked Dances With Wolves. I myself saw it again after over 20 years recently, and it's still great in my older age. Most of the criticism I've seen of it is flawed. From an artistic standpoint, it beats Goodfellas hands down - but Goodfellas is much more entertaining.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  I loved Ordinary People.. and hated Raging Bull, which is so overrated.
- kthejoker2 5y ago
  It's funny, I think your Ordinary People vs Raging Bull comment excellently underscores the original article. Raging Bull is a cinematic masterpiece. As "art as art" it is sublime. It is a love letter to film. Ordinary People is an emotional masterpiece. As "art as therapy" it is sublime. It is a love letter to humanity. When people "steal" from Raging Bull it's fairly obvious and usually surface level. Plenty of people stole from Ordinary People, too, it's just harder to spot because what they stole is more psychological and subtextual. Just as a simple example, the most iconic televison show of the last 30 years (The Simpsons) cribbed way more from Ordinary People than Raging Bull. If you look, it's easy to spot the influence throughout the series' run. But there's no single iconic shot like their Raging Bull slo-mo homage in "The Homer They Fall." What does it even mean, to remember, to steal, art...?
whywhywhywhy 5y ago
> The Departed is a shot-for-shot remake of Infernal Affairs and also his first Oscar. It's how art gets mades. What is Infernal Affairs a shot-for-shot remake of?

fenomas 5y ago

The Departed was a licensed remake. Its producers bought and paid for the rights to remake the original.

bigcat123 5y ago
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
Who did they buy the rights from, and who made the original worth copying? In music you often get people sampling a song due to percussion or production and the lyricist or just some random dude getting paid.

rurban 5y ago

A shot for shot for remake yes, but much longer. Scorsese clearly has no idea how to do better editing. And I wouldn't call The Departed art, rather a showcase how much worse Hollywood cinema is, compared to original art.

brenainn 5y ago
I'd also argue Infernal Affairs has a far superior ending.
- rurban 5y ago
  I had a lot to critizise on Scorcese then. In German-only unfortunately: https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/ https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/

jbigelow76 5y ago

...and also his first Oscar. I've read a couple things over the years that the win for The Departed is a sort of make-up from the Academy for Scorsese losing Best Director for Raging Bull in '81 to Robert Redford (for "Ordinary People", who remembers that?) and for Goodfellas in '91 to Kevin Costner (for "Dances with Wolves", who WANTS to remember that?)

BeetleB 5y ago
Having seen both, Ordinary People is definitely the better movie. Goodfellas vs Dances With Wolves: A tie. Sorry, there really are people who really liked Dances With Wolves. I myself saw it again after over 20 years recently, and it's still great in my older age. Most of the criticism I've seen of it is flawed. From an artistic standpoint, it beats Goodfellas hands down - but Goodfellas is much more entertaining.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
pmoriarty 5y ago
I loved Ordinary People.. and hated Raging Bull, which is so overrated.
kthejoker2 5y ago
It's funny, I think your Ordinary People vs Raging Bull comment excellently underscores the original article. Raging Bull is a cinematic masterpiece. As "art as art" it is sublime. It is a love letter to film. Ordinary People is an emotional masterpiece. As "art as therapy" it is sublime. It is a love letter to humanity. When people "steal" from Raging Bull it's fairly obvious and usually surface level. Plenty of people stole from Ordinary People, too, it's just harder to spot because what they stole is more psychological and subtextual. Just as a simple example, the most iconic televison show of the last 30 years (The Simpsons) cribbed way more from Ordinary People than Raging Bull. If you look, it's easy to spot the influence throughout the series' run. But there's no single iconic shot like their Raging Bull slo-mo homage in "The Homer They Fall." What does it even mean, to remember, to steal, art...?

whywhywhywhy 5y ago

> The Departed is a shot-for-shot remake of Infernal Affairs and also his first Oscar. It's how art gets mades. What is Infernal Affairs a shot-for-shot remake of?