Martin Scorsese
The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street is a mix between "Goodfellas" and "Casino," set in the world of finance instead of the mafia.

The common points with the two masterpieces of the '90s are many: DiCaprio, like Ray Liotta, dreams of a life that does not belong to him and will try to achieve it at all costs, up to the destruction of his own morality. If in "Casino" the trap of money was linked to gambling and the underworld, here it is linked to the stock market, speculations, and scams. There are no more guns and mafia threats, but phones and brokers' promises of wealth.

A glossy, distorted world, where drugs and paid sex are irreplaceable vices, where ethics and friendship do not exist.

Sharks, rather than wolves.

Everything is described in an exaggerated, hyperbolic way, the characters in this work seem to come out of an extreme comic, they could easily belong to Tarantino's imagination, so much so that many dialogues would not feel out of place if pronounced by a Mr. Pink or a Mr. White (Reservoir Dogs). The risk of descending into the ridiculous, in some scenes, is just around the corner, but the fall in style is saved by the director's mastery and the actors' credibility (DiCaprio proves to be "on point" even when acting foolish).

A film with excessive, vulgar language, with strong and explicit scenes, in which the good DiCaprio does an incredible job, playing a character full of nuances, as hateful as he is adorable, an inflated ego as much as excellent and credible in his roles.

The main soul of the film is that of a black comedy tremendously over the top, but effective and funny to the point of tears. In this sense, at least 3 dialogues should be mentioned: the one where Jonah Hill talks about his wife/cousin, Matthew McConaughey's hilarious sketch, and the office meeting discussing dwarfs.

Scorsese goes wild and plays, using narrative devices of all kinds, proving himself a very sharp director and a devastating communicator. It's incredible to think that the director is over seventy, really. The film seems shot by a young filmmaker eager to amaze and have fun, and perhaps this is the problem of the work. Scorsese goes on too long, after an explosive first part, exaggerating the timing in some dialogues (the argument in the parking lot and the conversation with the cops on the yacht) and repeating already explored situations. If the film had been about twenty minutes shorter, we would be talking about a masterpiece.

Besides the superb DiCaprio, the comic performance of Jonah Hill should be mentioned, at times truly hilarious; Scorsese has given him the role that in the '90s would have gone to Joe Pesci. Absolutely divine (and talented too!) the 23-year-old Australian Margot Robbie, a pure delight for the eyes.

The only thing that really disappointed me is the soundtrack, uninspired and sometimes not quite related to the images (the Foo Fighters track in that scene is pointless, Gloria by Tozzi almost embarrassing).

In short, a loud film that deals with the usual story of rise to power and consequent self-destruction, which suffers from verbosity at some points, but able to entertain, make you roar with laughter, and scratch like few comedies.

If "Hugo Cabret" was a love letter to cinema, this is a love letter Scorsese makes to his craft.

Honor to you, Martin... and to your desire to tell stories with an extraordinary passion.