Scorsese 'Bringing Out The Dead' 'Ghost In the Shell' is 'What You Wish For'

The Chicago Critics Film Festival Day 5. Almost there! [5/8/2024]

The fifth day of the festival really started to whittle down the crowds to only the die-hards. Although the two revival screenings got decent crowds, the thrills of What You Wish For didn’t get the packed house treatment it deserved. We’re in the big leagues now.

What You Wish For

As our only original film on Day 5 of the festival, this one had some big boots to fill. A chilling suspense film in the Eat The Rich movement that is basically its own genre, What You Wish For has thrills that would make Hitchcock squirm. When a young chef (Nick Stahl) visits one of his peers working for elites in Latin America, his jealousy leads him to bite off more than he can chew. I have already written an article on the kind of flicks that have become popular in this vein, where a sympathetic lower class member is given insight into the evils of the elites in global capitalist society. This genre continues here, but with a slightly different focus.

Instead of delights coming from placing rich people in uncomfortable situations (Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion), the movie focuses on what "normal people" should do in their wake. We are made uncomfortable realizing we very well might do the same thing. Keep your head down and be grateful for what you have. Don't think too hard about your labors or victims. Sacrifice just a little bit of red, get a whole lot of green. If you wish only for money, the world will provide. While thinking on these things, a couple of twists and a handful of turns make this a great rollercoaster. 3.5/5

Bringing Out the Dead

Bringing Out the Dead was introduced to festivalgoers as an underappreciated gem not only in Scorsese’s career but in its release year of 1999. The canon of great works that were released in Prince’s party date include some of the greatest classics of all time, from Eyes Wide Shut to The Matrix to Fight Club, and that barely scratches the surface. Like those films, Bringing Out the Dead demonstrates America’s lost horror of having peaked in culture. We follow an EMT (Nicolas Cage) through three graveyard shifts on the streets of New York as the work slowly drives him to further insanity. His three partners (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore) each present a different coping mechanism on their job that Cage’s character fails to adapt.

The ghosts that haunt New York streets can be said to represent any of the ghosts of America’s past. Who have we failed to save in the land of the free and the home of the brave? These EMTs mostly have to focus on the forgotten, the homeless, and the mentally broken in ‘90s American society. They are endlessly destroyed and wholly unfixable. A man can only take so much of humanity’s discarded before he feels he’s one of them.

Scorsese is, of course, a master at work. The upbeat soundtrack and fast-paced editing from Thelma Schoonmaker make the picture enjoyable even as we are devastated. Still, the images of death and near death that you see here will haunt you leaving the theater and walking out onto whatever American street you’ve chosen. 4.5/5

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

The screening of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence at the Chicago Critics Film Festival was also the world premiere of its newest 4k restoration. I can unreservedly recommend seeing this restoration, as the film is a visual marvel that should be seen in a theater in the best quality possible. There’s something mind-blowing about the combined 2D and 3D animated visual palette as it helps interrogate, like the first Ghost flick, the lines between machine, man, and god. In the far future, a cyborg investigator and his partner uncover a grand conspiracy involving androids turning on their masters. They must face how human they may or may not be and whether their consciousness (ghost) or their body (shell) matters.

I love a good anime picture though I wouldn’t consider myself even approaching expert status. Much of the plot was admittedly lost on me in confusion over antagonist motives and the flurry of beautiful philosophical quotes the characters profess. But in the current state of AI generation, you can’t go wrong with this film as a purely visual and mind-breaking experience in a far distant future. 3.5/5