The Frame

Wow. I was expecting this to be one of those films that I check off my list of “films every film buff should see because Scorsese directed it and De Niro is in it.” I did not except to be totally blown away by it. Travis Bickel (De Niro), afflicted with insomnia, takes a job driving a taxi at night to fill up the extra hours of his day. Driving around at night in New York City, he sees and is disgusted by the seedy underbelly of the city, eventually going a little crazy over it, especially after he meets the 12-year-old child prostitute played by Jodie Foster and makes it his mission to get her away from that life. The film’s brilliance is its refusal to judge whether Travis’s violent vigilante tactics are justified for a goal which is obviously worthwhile–sympathy for him careens back and forth in a way totally consistent with his apparent social disorders. De Niro and Foster are both incredible; this probably remains Foster’s best role in a career of good roles, and De Niro’s intensity simply jumps off the screen. It’s not always an easy movie to watch, but you also won’t be able to look away.
Superior