Genre: Drama
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Steve Zaillian
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham and Anna Paquin
In theaters: November 1, 2019 (USA limited)
The long-awaited Martin Scorsese's passion project, The Irishman has finally seen the light of the day this year and let me say it is a "hell of an epic". We've already known Scorsese as an American master in the craft of filmmaking, specially in the mob drama genre (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York and The Departed), but he excels in The Irishman! But let me be clear: The Irishman is not a movie for everyone. It's slow, the first act slowly builds the next two and there's nothing really going one besides characters development and their backgrounds... but then Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) enters the scene and everything changes!
The Irishman starts with Frank Sheeran's (Robert DeNiro) initiation in the mob world - he's Irish, but he bounds well with the Italian mob, specially with Italian mob boss Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). And then the story goes on as you watch Sheeran going from a regular working guy to a violent criminal, but you never lose the sympathy for him - that's maybe the screenplay and DeNiro's major accomplishment in the whole movie! In fact, it might well be DeNiro's most relevant movie role in years, but that doesn't mean it is one of the his best performances - he only displays some emotional edge in the last 45 minutes of the movie. I know he's one of the greatest actors alive, but I would say he's a bit wooden during the first 2 acts, displaying very little of emotion - which serves the narrative purposes but it doesn't quite impress. Plus, the de-aging CGI steals some of DeNiro's expressive lines, just like he went through some plastic surgery - this technology is effective, for sure, but I believe because of DeNiro's specific kind of lines and facial bone estructure, it stole too much from him.
My raves go to Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. Both are amazing in opposite ways: Pacino steals every scene with his eloquent speaches, Hoffa's paranoias and manifestations of affection for his loved ones; as for Pesci, he's steely, charismatic but quite subtle, a low key performance that screams "danger", the friendly man capable of horrific things - and he's delicious to watch. Cannavale and Graham also have a big couple of showy moments, but they pale in comparison to Pacino and Pesci. These two legends are two planets and DeNiro is a moon who goes around each one of them. DeNiro might be the lead, but his co-stars' characters are the ones who cause chaos and make the narrative go on.
The Irishman also offers an amazing editing work from editing legend Thelma Schoonmaker and Rodrigo Prieto has the tricky job of capturing each image, each color and each angle while thinking about the needs of the de-aging CGI. The makeup work is quite good, but it's the de-aging visual effects that impress the most: they don't fit DeNiro's face quite well, but they fit Pacino and Pesci's faces perfectly and it's amazing how the team was able to feature such working during a 3 hours long movie. The odd thing about de-aging old actors: their faces look younger but their bodies show they don't move like a man in his 30's or 40's. No matter what, it's impressive!
The Irishman is one of the greatest achievements in Scorsese's career and it comes with a sense of nostalgia and early grief. Perhaps it's a reflexion of an old director who knows there are not many years left to live and to work on movies, but he does it with grace, accepting it.
Not the best movie of the year, in my opinion. It's not a movie that I love, but it is a movie I respect. One of the most impressive passion projects that came to life and you shouldn't miss it!
RATING: 4 / 5
Oscar potential categories:
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Martin Scorsese)
- Best Actor (Robert DeNiro)
- Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci)
- Best Supporting Actor (Al Pacino)
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Editing
- Best Cinematography
- Best Production Design
- Best Makeup & Hair
- Best Visual Effects
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Sound Mixing
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