The best film ever made.

Rating: 10/10 (22 April 2020)

Even when this film was released, there were plenty of Italian mafia films to watch and enjoy. Some good, some bad, and some severely overrated. But only Goodfellas, to this day, has ever handled the subject matter with such an unforgiving amount of raw, revealing truth. This is what "The Life" really looks like. It's beautiful, it's enticing, but most of all, it's brutal and depressing. And this film captures all those elements perfectly without adding a bunch of circus-like, drama theater nonsense for the sake of aesthetic. Being authentic and ruthlessly accurate to the subject matter naturally forms its own unique aesthetic; one many film goers could identify with because it wasn't trying to be flashy--it was trying to be real. And by God they succeeded.
This film follows the rise and fall of one Henry Hill, a half Italian, half Irish mobster who got his start (as a pre-teen) in the 1950's by parking wiseguys' Cadillacs and Lincolns. His involvement only stayed innocent for a short time. Soon, he was peddling stolen cartons of cigarettes and even blowing up cars with Molotov cocktails. Although the man himself participated in activities many of us view as despicable, he never shied away from telling the truth. His honesty is admirable, and without it, it could've been decades later before we truly had a first-hand account of what it was really like being a mobster during the golden age, and the eventual downfall. Henry Hill passed away in 2012 from complications related to heart disease, one day after his 69th birthday.
Henry Hill is the star of the show, but he's far from a one-man band. Joe Pesci's performance as Tommy DeVito shows us how truly psychotic some of the men were in the mafia; willing to murder someone in a split second over something normal people would shrug off without a second thought. At the same time, he can be lovable and down to earth; showing us the facade many of these men could put up at a moment's notice. One moment he's brutally murdering someone, and the next he's having a pleasurable dinner with his elderly mother who's busting his chops about not settling down with a nice woman. All in the same day!
Lorraine Bracco plays Karen Hill; Henry's wife. Seeing her get sucked into The Life so easily is quite honestly terrifying. She couldn't have been further from what Henry was, yet the flashiness of the mobster lifestyle attracted her like cartoonish characters on the front of a cereal box would attract a grocery cart full of kids. And once she realizes how deceptive The Life can be, it's already too late. She's in. And there's no turning back.
Robert De Niro's performance as Jimmy Conway is quite possibly the one that sticks with me the most. He's the perfect example of how paranoia can turn you into a completely different person; causing you to flip out and cause a scene over something as banal as a man's wife wearing a nice coat after a heist. Or going to devastating lengths when you start wondering, "Who can I really trust?" Of course, for many true paranoids, the answer is: No one.
This is Scorsese at his best. While many of his films are amazing, and also 10/10's, the lightning in a bottle captured in this film will most likely never be replicated. Not by Scorsese, or anyone, for that matter. This is a film everyone should watch. It's enjoyable as all films should be, but eye-opening unlike any other.