The Irishman
directed by Martin Scorsese
directed by Martin Scorsese
Although the director Martin Scorsese has directed and created a wide variety of films (twenty five fictional films and almost as many documentaries), he's probably best known for many entertaining and provoking movies depicting Mafia life. Arguably, Scorsese has created a Mafia themed film tetralogy with the movies Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman.
The Irishman came out a few years ago. For whatever reason I only recently watched it. It's not Scorsese's best film but it might be one of his most moral and thoughtful. It should be Scorsese's Mafia cycle denouement. Scorsese's other Mafia films are fire, with dangerous hotheads and sudden eruptions of lust or violence.
The Irishman is the polar opposite. It's ice. Most characters are understated, quiet, and unemotional. People make such oblique threats that the viewer may be unaware that someone's life or wellbeing is in grave danger.
The film's dialogue often reminded me of the language people use in corporate job performance evaluations and discussions. It's rare that your boss tells you "You're a hopeless f*** up!!".
Usually, when you're in trouble you might hear a boss say things like " We're going to help you to find other opportunities.", "This isn't a good fit.", or "We're disappointed that you didn't take ownership."
Similarly, in The Irishman, hoodlums rarely tell anyone "I will kill you!". No, instead statements like "It is what it is.", "You might be demonstrating a failure to show appreciation." or "Don't worry about that money. He won't need it." are final warnings or direct orders to murder.
The Irishman is Mafia deconstruction. Criminal life isn't glamorous or exciting. Few criminals enjoy or profit from their activities. The film's most notable feature is the age of many of the key actors, most of whom have worked with Scorsese before.
Harvey Keitel, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, and Robert DeNiro were all seventy-five or older when this film was released. Their age helped when the film showed them in later years, as prior events were displayed in extended flashbacks.
However, Scorsese decided against using younger actors for flashbacks, instead using digital de-aging techniques. This didn't work. Notable exceptions aside, men in their mid seventies do not move like younger men. This took me out of the movie.
So what's this movie about you ask? Well it's based on the alleged friendship between WW2 veteran, Teamsters member, and supposed hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro) and Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). The book I Heard You Paint Houses detailed this. On his deathbed Sheeran claimed to be Hoffa's murderer. I can't call it. Some Sheeran stories were plausible. Others were demonstrably untrue.
According to Sheeran he was also very good friends with upstate Pennsylvania Mafia Boss Russell Buffalino (Joe Pesci). And when Hoffa's interests and those of Buffalino and other Mafia luminaries permanently diverged, Sheeran had to choose a side. And so he did.
I was very young when Hoffa disappeared from a suburban Detroit restaurant. I vaguely remember seeing the news on TV. Hoffa had been a Mafia ally for years but not a compliant one. Hoffa was independent and fractious.
Al Pacino masterfully depicted Hoffa's combination of punctuality, cynicism, commitment to the labor movement, contempt for the hoodlums he used, and monomaniacal belief that he owned the Teamsters union.
Sheeran plays a price for his moral decisions. One daughter, Peggy (Anna Paquin) only has one line of dialogue but it's emotionally devastating. If you are familiar with seeing Joe Pesci as an extroverted dangerous dynamo, you may be astonished by his turn here as a gracious, soft spoken, quiet, dignified mob boss. Pesci should have won an Oscar. He's that good. Pesci came out of retirement for this role.
Sheeran follows orders no matter who gets hurt or what it costs his family. Although he was a Mafia associate, Sheeran probably would have experienced and inflicted the same sort of pain even if he were instead a general ledger analyst.
Sheeran placed his happiness and that of his loved ones below company directives. He regrets that later but lacks the vocabulary to express remorse. Watching DeNiro struggle to express his pain, often just with his eyes, is brutal.
The film is over three hours long. If you are of a certain age you are probably watching older relatives lose a step, sicken, go into nursing homes, and pass away. The movie's final third depicts that unsparingly. The music created for or used in this movie was touching.
Other featured actors include Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, Jack Huston, Katherine Narducci, Jesse Plemons, Welker White, and Gary Basaraba. Scorsese employs freeze frames throughout the movie to show the real life fates of many mobsters. These are rarely good.
