Sunday, November 1st, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: The Big Shave)

The day after Halloween. Feels a bit empty, doesn't it? Horror films are slightly less relevant today than they were yesterday, and I am bordering from the second day in a role of severe migraine headaches due to high sugar intake. Even though we are leaving much of the horror film discussions in the past week, the countdown of the most horrifying scenes in film history that I included on the blog from Total Film last week is still swimming in my head, as it was my inaugural viewing of Martin Scorsese's 1967 short film The Big Shave, as the entire 5 minute short was number four on the list.

The film stems from Scorsese's tenure at New York University's film program, and was originally titled Viet '67, which has caused many critics to compare the nameless lead character's titular shave to America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The dark flick is considered by many the most famous of the shorts Scorsese made during his school career, and would definitely pave the way for some of the darker movie tones he would deal with later in the iconic reign over the cinematic universe that would follow. The plot may not be thick, as it is just five minutes of a man shaving his facial hair, and eventually, his skin, but in his only film appearance, Peter Bernuth, plays the stone faced role perfectly.

Most of the time during my Short Film Sunday post, I speak of what the director went on to accomplish, but I think it goes without saying that we are all familiar with Scorsese's work, as he is arguably one of the greatest directors alive or dead in the history of cinema. Some of his works include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed and the upcoming Shutter Island just to name a few of the masterpieces. Anyhow, without anything additional to say about Scorsese that has not already been uttered thousands of times previously, enjoy The Big Shave.

P.S. Please don't go to YouTube to watch the video, as for some awkward happening beyond my reasoning ability, a plethora of extremely graphic taped vaginal exams are in the related video list to the side.