Who's That Knocking at My Door

J.R. lives in an Italian American neighbourhood in New York, spends his time with his friends, goes to church, and begins a relationship with a woman he meets on the ferry. When she tells him about a trauma in her past he starts talking about forgiving her, and the relationship ends there, because he cannot see that there is nothing to forgive. Martin Scorsese assembled his first feature over years, beginning as a student film and completing it in pieces. Harvey Keitel takes his first major role. The kernel of everything Scorsese made afterwards is here: Catholic guilt, the neighbourhood, how women are looked at, and the use of rock music. It is technically uneven and recognisably his. Who it is for: viewers interested in Scorsese's origins and sixties American independent film. Who it is not for: anyone expecting polish, since this is raw and scattered.