The Aviator
2004 · Directed by Martin Scorsese
Original language: English
- drama
The story
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
What it’s like
Warm, saturated Technicolor-era palettes give way to flat, cold greys in the film's darker stretches, with Scorsese's camera gliding through crowded sets, screening rooms and hangars in long, restless tracking shots that feel like the restless mind of their subject. Art deco interiors, golden Hollywood glamour and the bare white of the flying boat's hull shape the look, while the score blends brassy big-band jazz with sweeping orchestral swells that swell and collapse alongside the protagonist's moods. The pacing is brisk and episodic, moving across two decades of ambition, romance and mounting anxiety, and the tone is glamorous yet quietly unnerving, with a charismatic, self-destructive man slowly losing his grip on the world he built. Intensity is moderate: there are plane crashes and a fiery mid-air sequence that land with real force, some brief sexual content and adult nudity, and frequent scenes of obsessive handwashing and compulsive rituals that feel uncomfortable rather than graphic. It suits a late-night watch or a long, absorbed afternoon for viewers who enjoy grand period detail, character-driven biography and a melancholy portrait of genius under strain.
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