IronWatcher’s review published on Letterboxd:
Watched on Blu-Ray
In 1983, full-blooded cineaste Martin Scorsese, who at that time had already gone down in the annals of American film history and especially of the New Hollywood movement with great deeds such as his "Raging Bull" or "Taxi Driver", wanted to devote himself to another project of the heart. Based on the novel of the same name by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, Scorsese wanted to bring "The Last Temptation Of Christ" to the screen. But early on the project was not under a good (biblical) star and so the Italian-American and non-practising Catholic had to lay his cinematic vision to rest. There was a resurrection at some point, however. However, it took a little longer than three days until Willem Dafoe could be seen on the big screen as the Messiah who doubted himself and his mission (in 1988, "The Last Temptation Of Christ" was released and promptly became one of the most controversial films of all time).
Since the first attempt failed in 1983 and Scorsese was obviously full of beans, he made two other works in the meantime and the first of them is not only better than the scandalous Jesus film, but in my view even belongs to the best in the whole filmography of Martin Scorsese: "After Hours" (German title: "Die Zeit nach Mitternacht"-the time after midnight).
True to the saying "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade", Scorsese chose a partially plagiarised script by 26-year-old Joseph Minion, and ensured that the intended director (a certain Tim Burton) quickly and voluntarily vacated his pre-warmed director's chair due to the interest of the "Taxi Driver" director. Inspired by his frustration at the time and by Franz Kafka - on the basis of this knowledge, compare the parable "Before The Law" known from "The Trial" with the scene in front of the club - added something here and there to the script. A screenplay that probably already had a rather unusual, slightly surrealistic and yes a - don't worry, for once this overused adjective really fits - a thoroughly Kafkaesque tone. And he hired Michael Ballhaus as cinematographer for the first time, a collaboration that would later give us highlights and eye candy like "The Age of Innocence" or "Casino". Ballhaus' camera work in "After Hours", especially in the furious opening, is a foretaste of the kinetic, extremely agile and at some points almost hyperactive direction (in combination with Thelma Schoonmaker's editing, of course) that Scorsese would take to extremes years later, for example, in "Bringing Out The Dead" (another such underrated gem). Even a falling key is virtuously captured by the Scorsese/Ballhaus team in "After Hours".
At the centre of this often underrated ¬ or rather overlooked ¬ pitch-black comedy is Paul Hackett, a programmer played by Griffin Dunne (the mangled sidekick of 1981's "American Werewolf in London"). Hackett, who has a boring job with few surprises, meets a young woman named Marci (Rosanna Arquette) in a café after work. By lying to her about a "mutual" interest in Henry Miller, he is able to get hold of her phone number and arrange a meeting at her place. But when he sets off and his only cash in the form of a 20-dollar bill flies out of the window and into the urban darkness in a wild taxi ride, it is already clear to the viewer that this is not going to be a light-hearted, charming romance (or to quote "Game of Thrones" at random here: "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.").
What begins now is Hackett's odyssey through the night scene of New York, which Scorsese has staged again and again with new facets over decades. For me, no shot is as emblematic of this unique, bizarre comedy as a drawing of a man scribbled on the wall of a public toilet, with a shark biting into his erect penis. Even though I've seen "After Hours" several times, at that point I always wonder if Paul Hackett might end up looking similarly bad.
Such an image can also evoke castration fears in men relatively quickly and this is also recognisable in the film: Throughout the film there is a threat to the male main character, which often seems to begin with sexual interest from outside. A kind of threatening femininity from Hackett's subjective point of view can be recognised. Whenever Hackett approaches a woman (or she approaches him), he seems to put himself in danger and every woman seems even more irrational, even crazier and even more fatal to him over time. Any communication and interaction with another human being - especially a woman - quickly leads to misunderstandings and quarrels, soon followed by anger, eventually turning into violence and altogether creating a deep, black, frightening whirlpool, a maelstrom whose undertow one cannot escape. At least not in the time after midnight, when strange things happen...
In between all the mistrust, however, there are individual moments and small, fine details, a longing for interpersonal contact and tender rapprochement in the anonymous, lonely urban jungle. It is also interesting to note that the spiritual search for meaning, which did not materialise in "The Temptation of Christ" at the time, can also be found in rudimentary form in "After Hours". In any case, I find that the favourite religious themes such as the longing for redemption (which is sometimes dangerous for the characters) run through the majority of his works (not only through the explicitly religious films such as "Kundun" or "Silence").
Finally, I don't want to forget the composer, Howard Shore, who, like Ballhaus, worked with Scorsese for the first, but fortunately not last time. His score, again combined with a very accomplished choice of music by Scorsese, is rather minimalist, much like some of his work for David Cronenberg, and contributes the perfect, paranoid musical accompaniment to Hackett's restlessness and the nightmarish doom lurking in the darkness of the city with its repetitive, ticking sound.
"After Hours" is a great film and all the more impressive when you consider again that it was a kind of "interim project", almost a finger exercise, which only came about due to the failure of a film more dear to the director's heart. And yet it is an outrageously strong film that loses none of its impact even after repeated viewings.
