When you have at least three hall-of-fame works in your filmography —“Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas”— some of your other films are bound to be overlooked. Don’t weep for Martin Scorsese just yet, since the folks over at No Film School have found a snappy and slick video essay focused on one of Scorsese’s more obscure films.
Released in 1985, written by Joseph Minion and starring Griffin Dunne, “After Hours” follows Paul Hackett as he has one of the worst nights had by anyone ever. The film is an absolute delight, Steven Soderbergh is an unabashed fan, and it’s incredibly still not on blu-ray, though you can buy an HD version from Amazon or Vudu. Ahead of the film’s 30th anniversary next year, Adrian Martin and Cristina Alvarez Lopez created a breezy nearly-four-minute video essay on the film for Mubi Notebook.
As we collectively wait until Warner Bros finally gets it together and releases “After Hours” on blu-ray —or Criterion swoops in— watch the short video essay “The Key To After Hours” below, and check out the film as soon as you can.