“Mr. Scorsese,” the documentary directed by Rebecca Miller

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Five hours . It's a shame to say that's too much; we've swallowed longer, much less interesting series. "Mr. Scorsese" is a documentary, a genre that has a terrible reputation: voiceovers, archive footage (in the sense that "we've already seen it"), more or less disguised hagiography. But this time there's a talented director at the helm, with a few feature films applauded at festivals but never released in Italian cinemas. Her name is Rebecca Miller , daughter of Arthur Miller and Inge Morath (also the wife of Daniel Day-Lewis, but after the awful film "Anemone," it's best to leave that side of the family in the shadows).

Martin Scorsese, 82 on November 17, has made more films than we can remember. For example, "The King of Comedy" with Jerry Lewis. Or "New York, New York," a musical with Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. "The Living Dead" was about nursing, but written by Paul Schrader and starring Nicolas Cage. "After Hours" tended toward the zany, starring Griffin Donne and Rosanna Arquette.

Not bad for a son of Italian immigrants who suffered from asthma and couldn't go out, and who lived not far from the streets where the Mafia dumped their bodies. His only distraction was the movies: the air conditioning alleviated the symptoms. Archive footage shows the wretchedness of the Bowery back then—today the area tries to attract tourists. He lived isolated, and we can consider "Mean Streets" a family film—artistic, because art is always linked to cruelty (clean souls, refrain; this is not a documentary you'll enjoy).

Isolation and anger are all there in “Taxi Driver,” starring an angelic-faced Robert De Niro. A vigilante, as Paul Schrader's script dictates. A Vietnam veteran with little experience of the world, his character takes blonde Jodie Foster to see a porno on their first date. “He's a man from the underground; today he'd be addicted to social media,” says the director. They went to Cannes, and Jodie Foster, the only French speaker, answered for the others (she was underage and couldn't have seen the film in theaters). They won the 1976 Palme d'Or—Tennessee Williams was the jury president. The blood had been “bleached,” muted so as not to offend the audience.

We meet mother Catherine, an actress for her son and furious when she's cut. The next film, "New York New York," was bloodless and a terrible flop. Scorsese divorced his wife Julia Cameron, mother of his daughter Francesca, and his dark period began. He collapsed from drugs, was hospitalized—"Raging Bull" was written there: Scorsese was convinced it would be his last film. In black and white, with punches that are remembered years later (like poor De Niro's belly, forced to put on weight). Then the boos returned, with "The King of Comedy."

It makes you want to plunder the entire documentary. Scorsese with a beard, without a beard, with long hair, with a flowered shirt, with tuxedos at the Oscars, always avoided until "The Wolf of Wall Street" : the young Leonardo DiCaprio had plotted to work with him. With Joe Pesci, who was born in a neighborhood similar to his, but "has been more marked by it" and doesn't want to talk about it.

Far from gangster films, yet incredibly successful, was "The Age of Innocence," based on Edith Wharton's novel. An impossible love story—Daniel Day-Lewis is a wealthy lawyer engaged to an aristocratic young woman; divorced Michelle Pfeiffer refuses to be his lover—set in New York high society, 1870. Each guest was given several pairs of white gloves, one for each lady they were about to dance. When questioned, the saint and sinner Martin Scorsese declared he was drawn to the novel's cruelty.

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