CrowdInk Previews ACMI’s New Scorsese Exhibit

From 26 May to 18 September, ACMI will be premiering an exhibition titled SCORSESE (an Australian exclusive), which pays tribute to and encourages audiences and attendees to engage with Martin Scorsese, the celebrated American filmmaker and innovate creative mind behind such films as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

CrowdInk had the opportunity to preview the exhibit and we can not stress enough how sad it would be for anyone in the vicinity (cinema-junkies and otherwise) to miss this exhibition.

We descended into Gallery 1 at ACMI and were almost surprised there was no popcorn machine. The space feels like an intimate night at the theatre, with the first short film on display immediately taking us into Scorsese’s brainspace. The short features closeups of a man shaving, but quickly turns to restrained, cool, calm violence as the man shaves right into his neck and cheeks, staining the sink below him with his own blood.

From that stark entrance into the theatrical, we move into Scorsese’s Little Italy (specifically items from Italianamerican, a film starring Scorsese’s parents). As we move on, there’s a brilliant longer curation of film segments detailing common romantic tropes that Scorsese addresses in many of his films. It’s fitting after the introduction to Little Italy, as the tropes are rooted in Italian-American culture: strong female leads and leading men ill-equipped to deal with their own vulnerability and tenderness.

We then walk through a collection of Scorsese’s lonely heroes, his leading males. This is often Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joe Pesci, actors Martin Scorsese worked with frequently. The Raging Bull section pits two TV screens against each other playing the same fight sequence, separated by a life-size boxing ring that visitors are invited to walk across.

Set just to the side of the ring is an enclave featuring headsets that feels like a soundbooth. The music room is just another example of the brilliance of the way the space flows. The entire exhibition feels both like being at the movies (and the magic therein) and walking through Scorsese’s process from pre- to post-production.

Our personal favorite portion of the exhibit was the 4 large screens stitched together and lightly closed off by a wire fence. The 4 screens worked together putting sexual and religious imagery across Scorsese’s films right next to each other.

Watch the preview below:

In short, don’t miss this exhibition.