Hacker Cinema
The Departed
2006 · Film · 151 min
Directed by Martin Scorsese
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
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30 comments on Hacker News
I think that it's been happening for a while. Movies in the 70s and 60s tended to have more pause in the dialogue, more silence than movies in early 2000s.
Take a movie like the Godfather, it had a 8.4 seconds average shot length compared to the Departed 3 second average shot length.
I've noticed my parents no longer having the patience for movies with longer average shot length despite having been young during the era when movies were less fast paced.
[1] https://cinemetrics.uchicago.edu/movie/2732f3f8-f0d4-43f7-a0c7-ff5ccce451d0
[2] https://cinemetrics.uchicago.edu/movie/9d17ce68-0d48-45cc-89dd-7cadd53b293d
I finally got around to watching that a year or two ago. That scene is among several that are just remarkable bits of work, but somehow the whole film itself felt like a slog.
I feel like that's the problem generally with late career Scorsese. The last of his films that felt consistently interesting and free of flab was, to me, Casino, though he got close for me with The Aviator and The Departed.
Any unfamiliar accent is difficult. The only question is the amount of effort we’re willing to put in to familiarise ourselves.
For example, I thought I had a decent handle on Scottish accents. Turns out I don’t, just that all the Scottish people I worked with were anglicising their accents. I only heard their natural accents after we had a few pints. Now I’m working with several Scottish people who don’t change their accent and it is hard. I’m thinking I probably have to watch a few seasons of Outlander to get used to it.
There’s nothing “natural” about any accent. How difficult was the Boston accent the first time you heard it? I needed subtitles for sure. Then I watched several movies set in Boston (Good Will Hunting, The Departed, The Town) and it’s understandable now.
All this to say - you need familiarity to understand and you need to put in effort to gain familiarity. That’s fairly uncontroversial.
Here’s the controversial part - people will put in the effort to understand the accents and dialects of people from Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America. But if it’s an accent/dialect from India, they say some racist shit about the brown people being unable to speak English.
So yes “Strong Indian accents are very difficult” for you. And now you know why.
The Scorsese movie "The Departed" is both a remake of a film made in Hong Kong ("Infernal Affairs") and a semi-realistic depiction of the Boston Winter Hill Gang led by Bulger.
I can't believe I'm not seeing any Guy Ritchie anywhere. Particularly Snatch, but Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels too.
And almost anything with Brad Pitt. Lots of votes for Fight Club, but what about Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It, 12 Monkeys, or Cool World?
And now that I'm thinking about it, Dances With Wolves. Lonesome Dove TV miniseries. Braveheart. The Departed. Lots more, I'm sure.
I cannot fathom how one can compare crushing inanimate objects (commodity ones, at that) to murdering living things.
Even then; we regularly celebrate movies in which human beings are depicted as having their brains splattered out of their heads (The Departed won best picture), so I’m not sure where the basis to complain about depicting even murder in video art comes from. Not everyone likes puppies; pretty much 100% of everyone loves at least some humans.
Misleading ads for movies is an age old problem. For the longest time, the poster on IMdb for the movie Infernal Affairs (remade in the US as The Departed) prominently featured a woman holding a gun. She isn’t in the movie and to this day I still don’t know who the hell she is. [0]
[0] https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk5ODc1Nzg2N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDk2Mjg5NA@@._V1_.jpg
I watched it at home, so I didn't walk out technically, but I also turned off "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". The only movies I've physically walked out of have been "The Departed" and "Tree of Life". I don't think it's a big deal to bail on something you're not enjoying, but have given a best effort to get into.
Doesn't help when esp. his editing sucks. You can see that easily when he does remakes, and compare them. Internal Affairs vs Departed.
Either the editor is thinking the audience is too stupid, do they have to overexplain everything, or the editor is too stupid, or the director is too stupid. The third option being the most likely. And not even Asian directors are the best with bold cuts, African movies treating their audiences as the most clever. There's no need at all for lengthy introductions so that Aunty Karen will get it. Apparently Africans get it better than Asians, and esp. Americans.
Internal Affairs run 30m longer, even with extensive backstory cuts. Unfortunately I wrote my critic in German only, https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/
Hated it. I was apparently not alone; it did poorly at the box office. I'm also generally not a fan of religious films.
Also hated (and could not finish) the utterly turgid THE IRISHMAN. WOLF OF WALL STREET had its moments, but I'm honestly not sure why the film existed -- I mean, it's the same sort of story as GOODFELLAS.
SHUTTER ISLAND was crap. THE DEPARTED was maybe ok. The last one I loved was THE AVIATOR.
Given how awful THE IRISHMAN was, and the trendline I see with his work, I have no plans to see the adaptation of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.
This has been a popular opinion for a very long time. It even supports a plot point in the movie The Departed (2006):
Oliver Queenan : Microprocessors.
Billy Costigan : Micro what?
Oliver Queenan : Microprocessors. We'll probably be at war with the Chinese in 20-odd years and Costello is selling them military technology. Microprocessors, chips, computer parts. Anybody says anything about anything like that you let us know
Just an hypothesis: she was planted in the union because it was easier and faster than in the police.
BTW, "The Departed" [1] is a great movie about this topic.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/
Even most of his mobster movies aren't really about being depressed or Italian.
Casino's main character is Jewish. Gangs of New York is about Irish Catholics and American Protestants. The Departed is about Irishes. The Wolf of Wall Street may be about depression (haven't seen it), but is not about violence nor about Italians. The Irishman certainly has a lot of depression, and certainly violence and Italians, but even then.....it's called the "Irishman".
Goodfellas is probably the one prime example that is certainly about violence and Italians, and I'm not sure that's that depressed.
Retool was in my YC batch and the founders were very smart and driven - impressive product and insane growth. As a founder, very impressed.
On the other hand, as an engineer, Retool depresses me immensely. Tech debt accumulation is incredible with these tools - security is impossible - and performance is abysmal. Without exaggeration, I now ask in interviews if no-code tools are encouraged. If yes, I’m moving on. Software engineering cannot have failed so badly that we’re left dragging and dropping with no version control. It’s madness, and I’ll fight it until the end.
No code tools are cool - but they need to be quarantined. To quote the film “the departed”, “I treat them like mushrooms - keep them in the dark and feed them bullshit”.
It's one of the very few movies I chose to sit down and watch but had to stop after just a few minutes.
The others would be The Departed — I loved the original Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs, but I couldn't bear to watch more than a few minutes of The Departed. And the David Lynch Dune.
Usually I tough it out, L.A. Confidential, for example, I thought was awful, but saw it through to the end. I couldn't believe that the same director (Curtis Hanson) could have made such an awful (though, stangely, lauded) film and also the absolutely amazing Wonder Boys (and the servicable The Hand That Rocks the Cradle).
I had a lot to critizise on Scorcese then. In German-only unfortunately: https://letterboxd.com/rurban/film/the-departed/
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.
Did she have troubles following movie/TV series plots? I also lived with exactly what you describe for years before realising it had a name, and looking back the strongest indication was finding it far more difficult than others to follow movies, especially if they switch between different story lines.
The Departed [0] was probably the strongest example as Leonardo di Caprio and Matt Daemon look fairly similar anyway so I was super confused for most of it.
Once I've seen someone 5-6 times it gets easier to recognise them, but it's always awkward if I meet new people in crowded situations and then "lose" them again and have to wait for them to initiate a conversation before I know who I'm supposed to be with.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Departed
Virtually anybody but Hollywood exec types love Netflix, particularly creatives (the people who actually DO the things). Netflix has been making enormous amounts of content, even for smaller markets like Spain and betting on great people who are making really good shows (see ‘casa de papel’)
If you are a creative person you are enthused about streaming because suddenly there’s a huge amount of content being funded. Think about standup comedy and what Netflix has done for it.
Netflix is run by very smart people who are making very good content that most Hollywood execs wouldn’t touch. Scorcese’s next film is being funded by them! It’s nuts that Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, multiple Scorsese projects were VERY HARD to fund. Jonah Hill worked essentially for the lowest money you can work for in a movie (SAG which is the actors union says 20k minimum) in Wolf of Wall St. Because they couldn’t afford him. Stuff that you look back and wonder “how the fuck?”
Reminds me of this scene form The Departed (great film):
> Patriot Act. I love it! I love it! I love it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdqEuLhlexY
The Netflix bit is not completely true; the number of films/episodes available is lower but you get quite a few high-profile movies unavailable stateside eg. Argo, Batman + The Matrix trilogies, The Departed etc (http://www.moreflicks.com/home/movies?utf8=%E2%9C%93&provider%5B%5D=netflix-no&query=). Blame licensing arrangements.
Netflix is pretty VPN-friendly from my experience, so if you have a US or Canadian one you can still watch what you'd like.
"I'm not scared. But it's kind of exciting. It's like I'm in a movie. You're just doing your job. I get that."
Like in movies - yeah, "The Departed" police interview scenes comes to my mind. Stamp visas to some other foreign countries? This one was the hallmarks of visa policy in Gaddafi's Libya - the no Israeli ties tolerated (not even touristic visas). Or a raincoat? Really? Speaking about the human rights, how come this kind of behavior is still warranted?
I'm mildly face blind. Generally speaking it doesn't cause any problems - occasionally I spend the first 25 minutes of films wondering who is who and what's going on, and having missed the opening of The Departed I watched most of the film thinking Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg were the same person.
However, there have also been some excruciatingly embarrassing situations where I've re-introduced myself (or ignored) people I actually know, although typically I've only met them a couple of times. Bizarrely, I'm worst with caucasian blonde women.
The Prestige and The Departed are from 2006 and I would say 1/2 of what's left sucked. Still, listing a few movies that don't suck is hardly a ringing endorsement.
Pixar demonstrates that it's possible to make 10 movies without 5 of them being terrible. If the rest of Hollywood knew what it was doing you would expect the same quality from Sony pictures etc.
"So what have they done lately?"
Not even counting foreign films, here are some darn good productions from the past five years:
Midnight in Paris, Hugo, Drive, Warrior, Black Swan, Inception, Inglourious Basterds, Up, Whatever Works, The Limits of Control, The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Gran Torino, The Wrestler, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Into the Wild, Ratatouille, The Departed, and The Prestige.
IMO, the problem is that the guaranteed short-term profit strategy (MBA?) has infested Hollywood. These days they will only make a movie that has already done well. That means sequels and remakes. Every time you think your seeing an original Hollywood film in the last "I don't even know how many" years you're actually just seeing a foreign remake (e.g. Shall we Dance, Departed, 13, 3 idiots, etc.). These days they're waiting less and less time to remake popular foreign films. 3 idiots is from 2009 and they're already copying it.
Some people are saying "but this is what makes the most money!"... weren't we just complaining that revenues have fallen? They may make the most money of any of their other offerings (which are just more of the same!) but they're making less over all.
People still try to have the movie experience as we have for so long but then why pay so much? I can watch a well made series on free TV and then I only need to wait a week to see the next episode instead of 2-3 years.
I disagree!
The Departed was based on the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. It has a prequel as well as a sequel too. I don't understand Chinese and had to rely on subs.
But, I had watched Infernal Affairs before Departed came. Martin Scorcese was awesome, Walhberg and Damon are my favs, but still, I liked the original more than the Hollywood adaptation.
I think you watched Departed first and then the original, which would have caused the original to look inferior with the Hollywood one.
Also, don't forget South Korean and Hong Kong cinema. For example Scorsese's "The Departed" is a (inferior) remake after a Hong Kong trilogy.
Great article, though, I take issue with this tangent:
"James “Whitey” Bulger, a notorious South Boston mob boss currently on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list—he’s thought to be the inspiration for the Frank Costello character in The Departed"
The inspiration for that character is the original movie, Infernal Affairs, which The Departed is a remake of. They may have bleneded some features of Bulger into that character, but that doesn't make him the inspiration.
Thanks for the comment and sorry if my writing style's not to your liking. My post was not written to hurt anyone, quite the opposite. I have my own writing style, yes. It's not for everyone, yes. But you don't need to come here and try to organize a mob against, to try to force me to conform to your joy-sucking rules.
It's your choice and your right not to accept people who are different from yourself. God knows half of America is full of rabid, Jesus-loving attack dogs who try to force their beliefs on the rest of us. If you don't mind, however, could you please try to suffer in silence and keep your crying, bitching, and trolling to yourself. Thanks :)
BTW, if you don't like words like "ass" and "fuck" and all the rest of those naughty words that cause you cry out and try to rally a mob for a witch hunt, you might want to avoid blogs such as "500 Hats" by Dave McClure. Here's Dave's bio: http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/about-dave-mcclure.html here's one of his posts: http://500hats.typepad.com/500blogs/2006/11/why_you_want_yo.html and here's every post he's written with the words "ass" or "fuck" in it: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=ass+or+fuck+site%3A500hats.typepad.com&aq=f&aqi=&oq= Can you still see, or did all those naughty words blind you?
Better stay away from TechCrunch, too. That Arrington has a mouth on him! Of course, it's nothing like that Zed Shaw. Hehe, I love those guys. You know, what really burns me up, though, is little people who use words like "shit" and "fuck." Who do they think they are! We gotta teach them a lesson, don't we. We gotta stomp them back down where they belong. After all, only "important" people are allowed to use "bad" words.
Oh shit, better not read any William Shakespeare, either: http://socyberty.com/education/evolution-of-profanity-how-swear-words-came-to-be/
Damn, or watch award-winning movies, such as "Pulp Fiction," "Mystic River," "The Departed," etc. Or any of those award-winning HBO shows, such as "Sopranos," "Deadwood," "Entourage," "The Wire," etc.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, what's left for you?! Well, at least you've still got your Fox news, church, and tea party friends, right? Speaking of which, where you at the rally? I heard Palin's speech was great! She's so smart and wholesome and funny and right. I love her! She's got my vote in 2012, I've had about all the "hopey changey" stuff I can handle outta that Obama guy!
Do you now see how ridiculous your attack was, Brett? And do your employers and university (Amazon.com, Trilogy, LiquidPlanner, and Yale, if this is you: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brettbender) know you're harassing people on Hacker News when you should be working and making them look good? In both cases, probably not, but I'm not going to argue. Life's too short to waste time with miserable people. Good luck. Seriously.
Cheers!
PS: I took out the asterisks and did some polishing and now the post is making the rounds all over again. Thks.