Release Date 27Nov2019
THE IRISHMAN -or- I've seen this movie before, when it was shorter.
This is what happens when you give Scorsese a budget and free reign: He becomes Tarantino and blows his load for an extra hour.
It is a well made film, as per usual, but I really am tired of gangster flicks. Cosa Nostra has (for the most part) moved on, I think its time Martin did.
The Irishman, based largely on Charles Brandt's 2004 book "I heard you paint houses"(the books title is a bit of mob slang meaning "I hear you're a button man - Assassin, Hitman", a line that is spoken several times on-screen) follows 1950's truck driver Frank Sheeran over nearly 50 years as he gets involved with the Bufalino or Northeastern Pennsylvania Crime Family, their eventual entanglement with Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters and the eventual fallout from both.
As stated at the top, the film was well made and played. No argument there.
Just. Too. Fucking. Long.
Too long and self indulgent- don't give me that "but he deserves it" indie filmmaker! The audience (the people you spend 160mil to make a movie for) deserve stories with tight focus and a minimum of fat... and uncanny valley (Digital de-aging was used to show actors Deniro, Pacino and Pesci at two or so younger periods in their lives. Used extensively.)
Lots of fat and uncanny valley here.
See it if you are a Scorcese devotee and completist.
Comments