Sunday

The Aviator puzzled me. What was it about? There seemed to be several angles to Howard Hughes' life: his film-making, his flying, his women, and his mental condition. Of course they are all connected, and they are all him, but I couldn't help thinking that a focus on one of them would have been sufficient. Instead we are jumped around, never really getting an accurate picture of any of them. The film begins as he is trying to make his first film, before he has met many women, after he has learnt to fly, but before his condition begins to affect him. Why do we start then? I was confused. I don't know the details of his life, and I think this film relies on me knowing more than I do. I felt certain moments were being highlighted as important, but I didn't know why. We seemed to be shown random unrelated incidents - as if Scorsese was just filming all the interesting rumours and stories about Hughes, and not shaping them into a coherent narrative. I didn't like the 'radio' narrator who dominated the beginning of the film, and kept reappearing. In this instance, it definitely was a weakness. The story should be capable of being told without it. Also, why does the movie end where it does? Overall, I was confused by this film. It was of course remarkably well made, but didn't offer anything coherent. It seemed scrappy. When interesting things happened I thought 'what a remarkable man', not 'what a remarkable movie'. This is the problem I always have with biographies. They are very hard to get right. In a way, I think you have to destroy your subject in order to portray him accurately. Scorsese was too in awe of Howard Hughes to be able to do this.