‘Mr. Scorsese:’ Rebecca Miller On Her Emmy-Worthy Directorial Achievement [VIDEO]

Filmmaker Rebecca Miller has gifted cinephiles with an extraordinary, Emmy-worthy, “film portrait,” which is currently streaming on Apple TV+. Mr. Scorsese dives into the man and the artist –and according to the filmmaker’s assessment of the auteur, they are one and the same. Told in five-parts, Miller’s insightful, fascinating, and sometimes brutally honest doc allows Martin Scorsese and his many movies do most of the talking, while she “radically listens.” “Are you talkin’ to me?” Yes. And after five hours, I wanted five more!

“Are we intrinsically good or evil? Or are we capable of both? This is the struggle.”

Mr. Scorsese starts at the very beginning, via his Italian-American upbringing on the lower east side of Manhattan, amongst mobsters and clergy. Scorsese quipped “There was only one of two things you could become in my neighborhood, a gangster or a priest,” to which Gore Vidal responded, “You became both.” His asthma may have saved him from a life of crime. His tenacious drive to be a filmmaker, sustained him. Nothing was going to stop him.

Miller not only showcases some of the most iconic moments from Scorsese’s oeuvre but examines the many recurring characters and themes (the Johnny Boys, the lonely outcast chasing the unattainable woman, the rage filled husband/lover). It’s not just a comprehensive portrait of one of American’s greatest film artists, it’s a mesmerizing look at a moviemaker who insists on examining the moral ambiguity of people and situations, often going against the grain of what studio heads think audiences want. And despite the clueless MPAA (Taxi Driver), moronic protesters (Last Temptation of Christ) and bullying producers (Gangs of New York) he always made his way back to the top and, now in his 80s, is creating some of his best work.

But Miller also sets out to focus on his collaborations and how they shaped his filmmaking—specifically Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom he continues to work we again and again. In addition, we hear from other members of his film family like editor Thema Schoonmacher, screenwriters Nicholas Pileggi, Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks as well as actors Jodie Foster and Daniel Day-Lewis (Miller’s husband).

There is also time given to Scorsese’s continuously and egregiously being overlooked by AMPAS. He was snubbed for Taxi Driver and when he finally received his first five Best Director nominations (for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and The Aviator), he lost. Finally, 2006’s The Departed brought him his lone Oscar to date (despite having 16 nominations, 10 for Best Director). Incidentally, he is also the director with the second most acting performance nominations in Academy history with 25. (William Wyler is on top with 36).

The doc also delves into his dedication to film restoration and preservation as well as his establishing the World Cinema Project, restoring and presenting little seen films from countries with limited preservation resources.

And so much more. It’s the kind of series that will make you want to revisit most of his work. Of course, the enormity of the project gave more weight to certain films, while others were barely mentioned. Hugo, which received 11 Oscar nominations, isn’t even mentioned. Perhaps more footage will appear on the 4K?

Miller’s credits include Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002), The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009), Maggie’s Plan (2015), Arthur Miller: Writer (2017, for HBO) and She Came to Me (2023).

The Contending had the pleasure of a video chat with Miller.