Directed by:
Martin ScorseseScreenplay:
Steven ZaillianCinematography:
Rodrigo PrietoComposer:
Robbie RobertsonCast:
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Stephen Graham, Anna Paquin, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jack Huston (more)VOD (1)
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Martin Scorsese’s cinematic mastery is on full display in this sweeping crime saga, which serves as an elegiac summation of his six-decade career. Left behind by the world, former hit man and union truck driver Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) looks back from a nursing home on his life’s journey through the ranks of organized crime: from his involvement with Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) to his association with Teamsters union head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) to the rift that forced him to choose between the two. An intimate story of loyalty and betrayal writ large across the epic canvas of mid-twentieth-century American history, The Irishman (based on the real-life Sheeran’s confessions, as told to writer Charles Brandt for the book I Heard You Paint Houses) is a uniquely reflective late-career triumph that balances its director’s virtuoso set pieces with a profoundly personal rumination on aging, mortality, and the decisions and regrets that shape a life. (Criterion)
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Reviews (17)
As much as I love gangster movies, I'm not too happy with Irishman. Martin Scorsese returns to the genre that made him famous and assembles together a cast of mafia legends, but he fails to draw me into the plot at all. I enjoyed the first hour, where Robert De Niro gets into the gangster underworld as an assassin, but once Al Pacino showed up, the film stopped being all that interesting. I was disappointed that there were no shootouts and even the few murders looked pretty unnatural. I wasn't too interested in the plot, the dialogue had nothing to engage me, it's not suspenseful or tense either, so I really don't know where to look for plus points. I'd rather watch Scarface again, but at least I didn't suffer like I did with the new Tarantino film. 6/10.
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Once upon a time in the unions. Just as Sergio Leone has his dollar trilogy, Martin Scorsese now has his mafia trilogy, and I finally got to see its culmination at a time when I simply wasn't expecting it anymore. The youngest brother of The Godfather and Goodfellas arrived just when the deserving creator is close to eighty and boldly shows skeptics that age is just a number. Frank Sheeran's story is more nostalgic than the two aforementioned pieces, it doesn't need as much help in the format and imagery of the individual events, it simply sails, recounts, and reminisces for about three and a half hours, recalling things that are not easy to remember. He introduces a hundred and one supporting characters with removal, only to effortlessly run chills down our spines during a title pause with their fate. And in the midst of it all, the royal trio of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and most of all Al Pacino remains, in incredible acting performances as legends at the twilight of their careers (for Pesci, even after its actual end), savor the most passionate of arguments and subtlest of nuances. I knew this journey would be about murder, the mafia, politics, and courtroom drama, but I didn't expect it to be so precisely about aging and the transience of each life, when the most important things are precisely those that have irreversibly disappeared.
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The topic of disputes between trade unions and the government in America of the 1970s is not exactly my cup of tea. However, the pace of the narrative and the eye-catching depiction of the mafia world make The Irishman almost as good as Goodfellas. Moreover, we find ourselves at a much higher level here, among the uppermost ranks of the American mafia of that period. De Niro has the hardest task with an artificially young face with old eyes; it takes some time to get used to the digitalization in the first half of the film. He plays the killer in the traditional way, as we are used to from his similar roles. Pacino is more original, as his portrayal of Hoffa is eccentric, with political enthusiasm, great pride and the morally purest intentions of the whole bunch. He delivers the most striking acting performance of the film. For me, however, the biggest pleasure was watching Pesci, the man behind the curtain deciding who lives and who dies. He has transformed from a knife-wielding apathetic madman (Goodfellas) into a super-powerful player with a talent for mafia chess on whom all sides can rely. He excels in every scene. Keitel gets a minimum of space, but his role is that of one of the most respected bosses of the time. The director adds some of his trademark quirks, which stand out even more on repeat viewing. The top scene, which makes one’s blood run cold, doesn’t have a tense musical background, but is framed by an absurd dialogue about fish. The running time doesn’t seem too long at all, as this “road-movie” is about taking nostalgic pleasure from Marti’s unique style and a legendary constellation of acting performances we won’t ever see again.
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There isn’t a more suitable and meaningful ending to one era of directors like Martin Scorsese and actors like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci or Harvey Keitel. It was really nice that all of the above mentioned had a chance to say farewell to the gangster-movie genre with a movie like The Irishman. Nowadays, gangster movies are rare. But as one of the few directors, Martin Scorsese has a patent to such movies, and therefore he precisely knew what he was doing. And of course he pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Still, 209 minutes is 209 minutes. Moreover, same parts are very nostalgic and melancholic, which had to be taken into consideration. The theme is good, but not good enough for me to rate it with 5 stars, as there had been more essential pieces of this genre in the past. Moreover, this movie brought a novelty – digital alteration and rejuvenation of some actors – which takes some getting used to and always makes me lament that it is not possible to stop the flow of time. I really like those actors so for me to see the differences in their appearance wasn’t something I wanted to see. According to my expectations, The Irishman is a good movie. Maybe a bit too classical for a gangster-movie genre with little action and way too long, but it brings you back to the era that all of those who watched The Irishman partly out of nostalgia simply liked.
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A modern classic? It’s more of a you-wish gesture masterfully timed for the period when Scorsese stirred up a totally anachronistic debate about high and low. The film itself relies on the use of technologies that have been largely brought forth by Disney (Tron 2) and Marvel, and on the robust plan of Zailian's screenplay, which again lavishly beats around the bush, but does not work much with the depth of the characters. De Niro's Sheeran is therefore a static and slowly shifting cruel mountain of CGI flesh, and his picaresque pilgrimage through the history of American trade union-mafia intercourse drags on like an old man. The characters who are age thirty move about like they are eighty and in some ways, this accurately captures the essence of Scorsese's work - this stocky, corrugated professorship that lacks elegance and fun segments, but as a whole functions more like a cinephile fetish and an obelisk worshiping the past. At the same time, however, it fits very well into Netflix's portfolio, where the absence of a strict dramaturgy is confused with a robust creative vision. Martin is too good a director to make a disguised film, but his firm The Irishman is as stimulating as De Niro's face when he fires lead into German prisoners in a miserable, unintentional paraphrase of Call of Duty. For me, it’s on the thin edge of cringe.
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