Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon is another flawlessly staged Scorsese retro movie with anti-heroes rotten with corruption and deceitfulness that penetrates to the marrow. And the tragedy of the victims, filmed with Scorsese’s typical emotional distance. That is, with the exception of the main character, an Indian woman for whom annihilation isn’t a matter of a brief scene involving a bullet to the head. It is necessary here to have a liking for Marty’s uncompromising narrative style, with which I have always had a bit of a problem. Robert De Niro immensely enjoys playing another manipulative godfather, this time with the face of a kind uncle. DiCaprio entertainingly varies all of his acting trademarks in his portrayal of the ragged halfwit with a negatively curved mouth. And Brendan Fraser shines in his very small role. In her minimalist performance with a spellbinding gaze, Lily Gladstone is fragile, devoted and trusting. The brutally long runtime supports the absolute complexity of this epic film’s plot, but it also increases the number of characters and events happening around them, in which I got a bit lost in the end. The rhythmically monotonous but – thanks to the incessant pulsating music – vivid and ominously escalating narrative of a depressing injustice is invigorated by the appearance of the novice FBI agents with their professional methodicalness. Criminal gangs of deviants were not accustomed to being confronted with such tactics at that time. There is a nice surprise cameo in the solemnly edited epilogue. Oscar nominations are just a matter of time. [Cannes FF] (05/21/2023)

Ugh, so bleak, yet such a great movie. I applaud that Martin Scorsese didn't just decide to set the book in motion this time, as he unfortunately did in Shutter Island, but that he decided to retell the story in his own way, so that those who know the source material can get something out of it. It's not surprising that he conceived the film as a gangster drama, a chilling study of how easily a man can be swallowed by evil if he doesn't fight back, and an indictment of the media's silence on the subject. Perfect choice. And how it's filmed! The ideas, the cold murder scenes that only Scorsese can make, the wonderful mystical scenes I wouldn't have expected from him… And then there's the acting. Leonardo DiCaprio acts and looks like Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro straddles the line of caricature with clockwork precision and is clearly enjoying a proper role again, and Lily Gladstone, she matches them both with a single look that somehow manages to get everything into it. A true cinematic experience that deserves every one of those two hundred minutes. And with a perfect ending that few could afford. But Scorsese can. (10/28/2023)

At first glance, the same symptoms The Irishman had. In his latest films, Scorsese is no longer able to escalate, or at least keep the pace of the story and thus the viewer engaged. Add to that the monstrous running time and we have a problem. Although Killers of the Flower Moon has unquestionable narrative value, an artistic signature and dramatic ambition, those 200 minutes were for the most part plodding, despite the fact that DiCaprio and De Niro literally give an acting tour-de-force. (11/04/2023)

The Osage nation has found oil in their territory and became rich. But where there is money, there are people who want to get their hands on it, and they will be going over dead bodies. Martin Scorsese delivers a dense drama about human envy, anger and cruelty that is not entirely audience-friendly and forces you to spend three and a half hours in the company of repulsive people. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro give brilliant performances here, but the slow pace and a narrative that doesn't rush anywhere demand more attention and patience from the audience than usual. Scorsese is uncompromising, so be ready to do your fair share of time with his newest film. And he's certainly not going to make it easy. (10/16/2023)

Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth have taken a muddled, mediocre book and turned it into a great American novel in film form. Killers of the Flower Moon is a monumental, multi-voiced and timeless chronicle of the fall of a community whose lust for wealth is stronger than love, even though its members are aware that they are preparing the next generation for the future through their own behaviour. The film is dark and slow and feels longer than The Irishman, for example, but that length is justified, as it makes it possible for us to gradually get into that community and see at first hand how greed and cynicism gradually and inevitably spread to the country, become entrenched and consume the characters. Throughout the film, we find ourselves in close proximity to a confident and seemingly all-powerful, yet essentially banal and sometimes comically obtuse evil whose proper punishment seems rather unlikely, which is exactly as frustrating and exhausting as Scorsese most likely intended it to be. By comparison, the voice of goodness is weakened by sickness and the “medicine” administered, and it is limited to naming the one who died (which is something of a Scorsese trademark). Despite that – and thanks to the dignity that Lily Gladstone radiates – it has a central, evidentiary role in the narrative. Killers is primarily an indictment of the murderers whose existence should ideally have been erased from American history (because many still profit from their crimes to this day) and an emphatic demand to give back a sense of humanity to those whose lives were reduced to a few thousand dollars decades ago; the director’s closing cameo leaves us in no doubt about this. ___ Scorsese directs his lament with the surehandedness of a master. This time, he economises on the spectacular dolly and Steadicam shots, instead relying on the actors and Thelma Schoonmaker’s feel for rhythm. As a message about the substance of American capitalism, his plunge into the darkness could eventually become an equally essential work as Giant (1956), Once Upon a Time in the West, The Godfather and There Will Be Blood. At the same time, the intense hopelessness and the atmosphere of irreversible decline reminded me of Tárr’s films. No, that won’t come easy in the cinemas for this proof that you can still make your magnum opus in your seventies. 90% (10/19/2023)