Throughout his career as both a screenwriter and a director, ornery Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader is best known for exploring the psyche of lonely — and often disturbed — men. Rolling Thunder, American Gigolo, Raging Bull, Light Sleeper, Bringing Out the Dead, First Reformed, The Card Counter and Oh, Canada all revolve around this type of restless outsider. Taxi Driver was his first and finest work in this decades-long approach. But Taxi Driver wouldn’t have its classic status without director Martin Scorsese’s energetic and empathetic work behind the camera and star Robert De Niro’s iconic performance as the film’s central figure, Travis Bickle. Bickle is a mentally ill, racist, wannabe vigilante, and charting his downward spiral from a run-of-the-mill — if a bit … off — cabbie to a murderous lunatic is a visceral experience. It’s De Niro’s greatest performance, and it beat Western society’s current obsession with the “male loneliness epidemic” by 50 years.
Midnight at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
