Martin Scorsese is undoubtedly one of the greatest directors to ever live. So it’s always with great anticipation that film-lovers await his next project. THE IRISHMAN is an extra bonus because it reunites the auteur’s longtime muse, Robert De Niro, pulls another Scorsese favorite out of retirement, Joe Pesci, and adds a first time partnership of Al Pacino. I think that’s all you really need to know, but I’ll add a few more key points as to why THE IRISHMAN is spectacular.
A biographical mob thriller, THE IRISHMAN follows Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) as he recalls the secrets he kept as a loyal member of Russell Bufalino’s (Joe Pesci) crime family. Much older and alone sitting in a wheelchair inside a nursing home, Frank narrates his life as a hitman and his involvement with the disappearance of his good friend Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) in 1975.
From a screenplay by Steven Zailian, based on the book by Charles Brandt, THE IRISHMAN is a patient, methodical, and extremely captivating story. Scorsese once again expresses character and time through awful events masterfully. With the help of great editing, costuming, makeup, and the entire production design, THE IRISHMAN encompasses place and time magnificently. Outside of one early scene with De Niro, the deaging and aging special effects process has never looked better on screen. Time plays an important part on these characters. The futility of beating death and the relationships you choose to nurture and the effects of our decisions are hammered home best through the brief interactions we see of Frank’s home life. Particularly his strained relationship with his daughter, Peggy, played as a child by Lucy Gallina then as an adult by Anna Paquin.
The entire supporting cast is phenomenal, if only for brief moments. But I want to give a moment to express how wonderful it is to see Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and the rarely seen Joe Pesci again. It has been a while since we have seen these gifted actors sink their teeth into a performance. Obviously it helps to have rich material from such a talented director but these three will surely see their names come award season. But the major standout is Joe Pesci, who gives so much with so little. I’m a fan of understated performances and his quiet, controlled demeanor is the strongest force in THE IRISHMAN and that is saying quite a bit.
The most daunting thing about THE IRISHMAN is that it has 3.5 hour runtime. Yes, you heard me correctly, 3 HOURS AND 28 MINUTES LONG! Perhaps to some this might sound ideal, settling in for a nice warm bath after a long day. However, if you have small children as I do, then you know your own free time is limited. THE IRISHMAN is a film that will be streaming on Netflix beginning November 27. But for the next couple of weeks you can hopefully find it at your local independent theater (Not the big chain megaplex theaters). I understand more than anyone the troubles of trying to watch movies on limited time and smaller screens. I’m thankful I was able to make the early press screening where the film moved quickly and felt nothing like the runtime suggests. If I watched it at home, the film would be broken up among a couple of days, I may have even fallen asleep! Of course that’s not a knock on the film, that’s a knock on myself and I’m sure many of us, because the space and time for a movie of this magnitude is hard to achieve at home.
Not at all the same, but more similar to GOODFELLAS and CASINO, Martin Scorcese’s THE IRISHMAN is a truly engaging film through a more subtle vision, where character and the expression of time works best on the big screen. I guess The Marvel movies and Scorsese can share in that wonderful achievement.
