Over the past seven decades, no one has explored the story of America in the 20th century quite like Martin Scorsese. The 80-year-old director's most recent films, The Irishman (2019) and Killers Of The Flower Moon, out this Friday, are big ticket affairs that ask even bigger questions about life, death and everything in-between. But 49 years ago, on the closing night of the 12th New York Film Festival in October 1974, Scorsese proved that he can pull off a small-scale masterpiece on a shoe string budget.

That screening was of ItalianAmerican, an unfiltered documentary in which the filmmaker, then in his early early thirties, spends an uneventful evening eating meatballs with his parents, Charles and Catherine. The conversation flows from religion to immigration to petty crime, family and more. In just 49 minutes, ItalianAmerican provides a microcosm of Scorsese’s main themes; here in charming and familiar domesticity, we find the cornerstone of Scorsese’s creative mission.