Martin Scorsese is a titan of Hollywood. This legendary filmmaker came out of the New York arts scene in the 1960s to emerge as one of the greatest and brightest lights defining the New Hollywood movement. While many of his contemporaries have stepped back, retired, and slowed down, Scorsese doesn’t relent. With a feature film career stretching back to 1968’s Who’s That Knocking At My Door, the 80-year-old hasn’t missed a beat. He’s not taking it easy. In fact, he’s tackling even bigger films now. He’s telling the stories he wants to tell, the ones which move him. This week, the filmmaker’s latest effort, Killers of the Flower Moon, hits theaters with his usual in-your-face panache.
Killers of the Flower Moon follows the events and individuals struggling to shed light on a series of unexplained and grisly murders happening among the Osage in Oklahoma. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jane Myers and William Belleau co-star in the movie. Martin Scorsese directs Killers of the Flower Moon from a script he co-wrote with Eric Roth. The film is based on true events depicted in the book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, authored by David Grann.
On the surface, Killers of the Flower Moon is a tough work to review. Ultimately, this is a Martin Scorsese film. The man is, as mentioned, a titan of the New Hollywood era. This is going to be a well-made movie. There’s no question about that.
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That said, Killers of the Flower Moon is a heady beast of a film. At this point in his career, Scorsese chooses to throw himself into formidable and challenging stories. His last film was, of course, The Irishman, and your feelings about that movie will probably tell you how you’ll like this one.
Full disclosure: I loved The Irishman and was captivated by Killers of the Flower Moon. This time out, Scorsese easily maintains his biting sense of brutal musicality. His cinematic eye is as sharp as ever and remains one of the greatest to hold a camera.
At the same time, this movie is an acting feast. It is, of course, packed with the usual members of Scorsese’s troop, and everyone brings carefully crafted performances. Robert De Niro, in particular, is bringing everything he has. A screen legend in his own right, this is a much-needed role for him after a decidedly mediocre last few years. It’s a beautiful reminder of what he can do, and this writer hopes to see him facing off for Best Supporting Actor in 2024.
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Meanwhile, much of the credit must also be heaped onto Lily Gladstone, who hits the ground running in her mainstream feature-film breakout. Gladstone stands toe-to-toe with a surprisingly miscast (though still solid) Leonardo DiCaprio and establishes herself as a decisive force. As Mollie, she’s faced with the unenviable task of carrying much of the story’s emotional weight, and she does it with a quiet, calculated and beautifully understated performance. Look for her name to come up this awards season.
In fact, it feels a bit wrong to describe DiCaprio as the weak link here. This is a fascinatingly transformative performance, ultimately one of the most “un-movie star” turns he’s made. It’s not a glamorous role, and he faces an uphill battle playing a very challenging character. As Ernest, DiCaprio walks a fine line and seems very aware of the challenge. The talented actor brings everything in his arsenal to make this complex and decidedly unlikable man human. Unfortunately, though, certain plot points are rendered less believable with the world-weary DiCaprio in the role.
Luckily, these actors shine in a movie that is, for lack of a better phrase, heavy. In that, Killers of the Flower Moon is a truly challenging, borderline unrelenting sit. There’s little lightness to hang onto, and Scorsese appears deep into a meditation on the crimes and injustice of this world. Interestingly, for a filmmaker who’s always willing to look back on the past with a certain wistful nostalgia, Scorsese feels far more cynical as he corrals the movie toward its eventual conclusion.
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*Spoilers*
As the film drops into its epilogue, Scorsese makes an out-of-character choice to deliver the movie’s final minutes as a radio play. We are transported to a scene straight out of the 1940s to watch previously unseen actors play the characters as we learn how each individual story ends. It’s odd. After all, we’ve just spent three and a half hours sitting with these characters. We know them.
The transition is a jarring and distancing one. Without direct insight into the filmmaker’s brain, it’s a risky one. On a superficial level, after watching this challenging and emotional story for so long, this almost fluffy, silly depiction feels like a cheapening of this emotional subject matter.
At the same time, though, coming at this final sequence from another perspective shines a different light on Scorsese’s decision. Instead of reveling in the nostalgia, is it possible Scorsese might be judging it? All at once, he seems to be reminding us the past wasn’t the golden age we tend to see it as. Things weren’t better “back then.” The cheapening and commodification of serious storytelling isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s simply changed form.
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The scene also features a poignant cameo from Scorsese. The moment brings the movie to a close and feels almost like a close quote on his career. While the 80-year-old director has his name tied to multiple films in development, as Killers of the Flower Moon comes to a close, it feels just as likely he could step back from behind the camera for good.
*Spoilers Over*
Meanwhile, much can and will be said about Killers of the Flower Moon‘s formidable runtime. The period Western clocks in at just under three and a half hours. A runtime like this can be a challenge for even the most talented filmmaker. When thinking about this story spanning decades, it’s difficult to see what Scorsese (and equally legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker) could cut. They maintain a brisk intensity throughout with very little drag, thus reminding us why this director/editor duo is one of the cinematic partnerships of the modern era.
All in all, while I can easily say I loved the film, I found myself watching with a distanced eye. I’m not sure I was ever caught up in a sense of emotion. I certainly marveled at the visuals and the direction. In that, though, I really have to say that Killers of the Flower Moon is a “Film Twitter” movie. Fans of the Scorsese and those who eat up cinema as an art form should certainly make time to catch this one. Unfortunately, I’m not sure this hard and cynical period piece will appeal to many outside this specialized circle of cinephiles.
Killers of the Flower Moon opens in theaters nationwide on October 20, 2023.
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