I watched “Shutter Island” yesterday. It was a decent film with one huge problem: It was released in 2010. Had it been released in the 70s it would’ve been a classic but its plot just can’t measure up today. Why? Because of “Lost”.
Early on in “Lost”, there was an instruction film that said “careful observation in the only key to true and complete awareness”.
It was a meta-moment.
These words of wisdom was primarily aimed at the viewers in regards to the series. “Lost” have consistently used flaws and mistakes actively to take clues about the story arc. What people generally would think of as continuity errors or prop department misses cannot be written off as such in “Lost”.
And it was with this baggage I started watching “Shutter Island”. We’ve learned in “Lost” that photo, details and dialogue can contain meta-information about the show and now we look for it.
With “Shutter Island” it was obvious to me already at the very first scene.
(Minor spoiler ahead.)
When they approach the island on the ferry, the scene is blatantly filmed with greenscreen. Blatantly. Real badly done. No director would in 2010 do such thing unless he/she had something to convey with the images. And so, already at the very first lines of dialogue, Martin Scorsese gives it away. Of course we, The “Lost” Generation, conclude there and then that it’s all smoke and mirrors.
It’s hardwired in us all now.
