![]() Who’s That Knocking at My Door is a personal debut feature that shows a director who isn’t scared of dragging his own battles in with him. One of the things that I really enjoy about Scorsese is that his films connect through themes and that those themes reflect his own experiences and questions. He ponders these very same things in his later films, which leads me to believe that he isn’t convinced either. Although I may disagree with some of the film’s ideology’s, Scorsese provides something to ponder. Who’s That Knocking is a challenging film, but only in the best possible way. The fluid style of direction with many different angles, upbeat popular music and ear-to-the-ground dialogue are all Scorsese trademarks. However, this film is directed more at gender roles than it is religion in Mean Streets. ![]() is hanging with the boys look and feel a lot like Mean Streets. Who’s That Knocking introduces many of the themes Scorsese would later follow up on. But if his girlfriend has been with another man, she’s used goods and, in turn, a broad. accuses his girlfriend of being a broad, he is in turn reversing the relationship. A broad, on the other hand, is an object. They can either be a woman or they can be a broad. flips, accusing her of lying and being a whore. Things take a further change when the girl tries to take their relationship to a deeper level. has very lucid dreams about women other than his girlfriend. He says he’s saving himself for his wife. ![]() He has little experience with women outside of his mother and the Virgin Mary so he doesn’t quite know how to handle this girlfriend. However, there’s still an uneasiness for J.R. to go see John Wayne classics and talks about them afterwards. Although she is admittedly not a big fan of Western films, she happily accompanies J.R. J.R.’s in love and the boys are suffering for it. The camera maintains J.R.’s point of view and shoots Joey’s chest rather than his face. goes to hang out with his best friend Joey (Lennard Kuras). Scorsese uses an editing technique of focusing the camera in tight on her face when she is talking in the early part of Who’s That Knocking to show J.R.’s goo-goo eyes for her. The girl, who goes unnamed for the duration of the film, commands all of his attention. meets a girl (Zina Bethune) and falls in love for presumably the first time. They share a loyalty with one another that no woman can get between. As a group, the boys are crude, rowdy and shallow. Up until now it’s been hanging out with male friends in the bar, uptown, at someone’s place, wherever doing much of nothing. Whos That Knocking at My Door Movie review by Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Common Sense says age 17+ Early Scorsese film has rape, nudity, sexism. ![]() Harvey Keitel stars as J.R., a young man on the cusp of figuring out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. It is a crudely shot but effective film that not only introduced us to Scorsese but several of the themes around religion, love and gender that he’s continued to explore even in his more recent films. If for no other reason, Who's That Knocking at My Door? holds a secure place in film history for being exactly that.Who’s That Knocking at My Door is regarded as the launching pad for Martin Scorsese’s extraordinary career. It is a rare privilege to see two great artists collaborate on their first work. In the scene where he picks up "The Girl," he displays the charm that viewers would see again in Smoke and The Piano. His superb work in films as varied as Fingers, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bad Lieutenant can be traced directly to this debut performance. Harvey Keitel, for all practical purposes in his first film, reveals his character's internal conflict with an economy of words, a skill that would become his specialty. Pop tunes on the soundtrack, a restless camera, New York location shooting, and editing rhythms borrowed from the French New Wave are all present here as they would be throughout his career. Not only were the themes to become familiar, but the film-making technique employed in Who's That Knocking at My Door? would become Scorsese's signature style. These are the elements that would, in one form or another, appear in practically all of the director's future work. Martin Scorsese's first feature-length film, which was filmed off and on for a period of five years, features Catholic guilt, sexual repression, guys hanging out, unexpected violence and, in its very first scene, Scorsese's mother cooking. If ever there were a case of a director laying out his emotional and visual territory in his first feature film, this is it. A pop tune plays loudly on the soundtrack, while outside her apartment a fistfight suddenly breaks out. Who's That Knocking at My Door? opens with Catherine Scorsese baking a pork calzone.
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