Directed by:
Martin ScorseseScreenplay:
Joseph MinionCinematography:
Michael BallhausComposer:
Howard ShoreCast:
Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, John Heard, Teri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Verna Bloom, Dick Miller, Will Patton (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette). So begins the wildest night of his life, as bizarre occurrences - involving underground-art punks, a distressed waitress, a crazed Mister Softee truck driver, and a bagel-and-cream-cheese paperweight - pile up with anxiety-inducing relentlessness and thwart his attempts to get home. With this Kafkaesque cult classic, Martin Scorsese - abetted by Michael Ballhaus’s kinetic cinematography and scene-stealing supporting turns by Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, Catherine O’Hara, and John Heard - directed a darkly comic tale of mistaken identity, turning the desolate night world of 1980s SoHo into a bohemian wonderland of surreal menace. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (7)
A constantly surprising screenplay, a brisk pace, intelligent humor and, in the first half, even a sexy spark make After Hours an exemplary Scorsese film, even though it is lighter and funnier than most of the works in his filmography. The young Rosanna Arquette is beautiful and the master’s directing gets the absolute maximum out of every scene. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]
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When waking up late at night from the restless sleep of an office rat, Paul has to constantly tell himself that in a few days he will laugh about whatever bad things happen to him, but he can never be entirely sure about that. And thanks to Scorsese’s fondness for the dark corners of cities and of the human psyche, viewers can’t be too sure either. The unsteady transition from comedy to thriller and back is ensured by very steady directing and a well-written screenplay, sooner or later eliminating any doubts about the gratuitousness of any offshoot motif. Everything fits together beautifully, everything is interrelated and it all ends with an amazing office dance scene, an affirmation that, in this case, it was nothing grand, essential or groundbreaking. Just a bit of a filmmaking lark. With the highest level of craftsmanship. Appendix: Another item on the very long list of films that Timur Bekmambetov took inspiration from when putting Wanted together. 80%
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I’d love to spend a night like this. It would make for a great story :-D… This is the Scorsese’s film I’ve enjoyed the most.
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Scorsese is very high in my personal ranking of film directors, but this was the first case when I didn't gel with Martin's film. After Hours gives me the impression of an unfunny guy who, after a few drinks, tries to make an impression on a lady. He is annoying, without charisma, just awkwardly trying too hard, and he's simply a nuisance. The story drags and doesn't hold together at all, the screenwriter constantly tries to impress with new ideas, but the situations don't lead to a funny ending, and the characters (mostly having exaggerated and unrealistic personalities) come and go without their micro-stories being fulfilled in any way. Even the two stars I'm giving it are not convincing. Overall impression: 35%.
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Martin Scorsese and his most frantic cinematic ride. This mad odyssey of one night in a hellish New York neighborhood from which there is no escape always cheers me up, disturbs me, thrills me, scares me and warms my heart on repeat viewings. After Hours is a cult classic that, twelve years since I first saw it, this year in Karlovy Vary, I was finally able to indulge in on the big screen, where it simply belongs without any doubt! [KVIFF 2024]
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(KVIFF 2024) I'm glad that film festivals are screening older movies alongside contemporary works. This allowed me to see Martin Scorsese's lesser-known After Hours. For an hour and a half we are passengers on a chillingly humorous carousel of absurdly bizarre events that revolve around Paul, a modern version of Kafka's Gregor Samsa or Josef K. Scorsese manages to wittily and briskly capture the travails of a man who was always in the wrong place at the wrong time and against whom the entire neighborhood conspired, whether it was hysterically lustful women or a "bloodthirsty" militia, among others. "Simply kafkaesque! Although, Kafka isn't simple at all."
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Martin Scorsese is another director that I like, but I have quite a few gaps when it comes to his work. I first met him in the film "Gangs of New York", then I saw the movies "The Aviator" and "Shutter Island" which convinced me that Leo is a great actor. I have yet to see "The Departed", but not "Hugo" and his great story. But his earlier work? In that regard, I really can't say anything, so I decided that I need to fix my Scorsese illiteracy. The film "After Hours" became my first textbook. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2013/02/po-zaviraci-dobe-1985-80.html
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