THE BIG SHAVE (a short film by Scorsese) review

There are some films that changes your life. For example I have a friend that changed his name after watching BEING THERE... because he loved the movie so much. Basically... I'm talking about films that just affect you in a way that changes the way you go through life. Not in some grand intellectual manner... but... well... here, let me explain it to you.

About 6 years ago a clean shaven Harry Knowles was handed a tape with Martin Scorsese's short film... THE BIG SHAVE on it. Afterwards... and for every single day since... Harry's beard has continued to grow in length. I can not stand in front of a mirror with a razor in one hand and... well... the risk is simply too much.

Tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse, Tim video projected the utterly brilliant film that created a shaving phobia in me all those years ago. He screened this to a packed house of cannibals. Male and female they sat in their seat and watched this pretty boy shave. His handsome good looks... the nice even flow of creme massaged over his stubble... And a regular shaving utensil.

He seems completely in a state of shaving zen. The audience was utterly confused by the film, but Dad and I... two of the only fully bearded men in the room that had seen the film shared a glance of joy. We waited for the change in the film. The fantastic ingenius moment where the audience would begin gagging and run screaming from the auditorium.

When it began... You could feel the entire row you were sitting in squirm. In front of me was the Enygma (remember the circus freak episode of THE X-FILES) and his wife. He squirmed sooooooo much. I mean... Here is one of the world's greatest cool people and my god this film affected him.

Often times in short films people are so wrapped up in narrative that they forget they are telling the briefest of stories. Something that must, in the shortest time possible, provoke the audience to react and remember and NEVER forget what they had just seen.

I wish I could tell you exactly where to go to see this ingenius film, but I don't know. Is there a compilation of Scorsese's shorts... there should be... what a great little DVD. But folks... Seeing it with an audience.... PURE GEEKGASM. Even though it was my tape that Tim ran... I never really imagined what it would be like to witness the absolute horror of the audience screaming and moaning in anguish and hilarity. I can't tell you the secret to THE BIG SHAVE... you must seek it out for yourself. Don't research what happens, merely search for a way to see it. Ask for it in Newsgroups? Contact JANUS FILMS, find their contact info somewhere. They have it and I believe own the print. But folks... you must see it. There is nothing that Scorsese has done that quite matches it. I'm serious. Pleasant Questing!