"You don't know how good a friend you got."

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2019)

Marty's back with a bang. A bang that hits the heart, hard. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino all bring the A game for this one, and it's glourious to see. The Irishman is another mob masterpiece from Scorsese, but the difference between The Irishman and Goodfellas (1990) & Casino (1995) is massive. While all three movies deal with the mafia, The Irishman is about so many other things, with the context of a "gangster milieu". This is a movie about loyalty, betrayal, friendship, family, existentialism, reflection and ultimately, life & death. It is the philosophical work of a genius.
Frank Sheeran is played with such empathy by Mr. De Niro and the character is washed over by such a wonderful sadness. Sheeran is a brilliant soldier, who follows orders, no matter what, and can at no point show any sign of weakness. Mr. Pesci as "The quiet don" Russell Bufalino is almost Don Corleone-esque and Mr. Pacino is brilliantly eccentric and funny as Hoffa. It's impossible to choose a stand-out performance here, this is the peak of acting talent. Justice would be if all three won awards. By the way, Anna Paquin's acting with the eyes is really quite extraordinary. And don't forget Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano and Jesse Plemmons who all shine in their respective parts.
What I didn't expect was the real humanity of the whole story. These guys were incredibly close but things go wrong and Frank struggles to keep everything in check. We actually really see a vulnerable human being behind the muscle. At stake here is pride & friendship and life & death. We see the guys grow old and for the absolutely heartbreaking finale Marty says: We're all going to die. Will we look back and ask ourselves: was it really worth it?
On a technical level, it's what we've come to expect from Thelma Schoonmaker. The editing is phenomenal. The de-aging CGI was described as "experimental", but it's not even noticeable and it certainly doesn't effect the greatness of this motion picture. For a 210 minute long film, it really does go by way too fast, so strap in.
As I see it, this is a perfect film. I really do think we've witnessed true greatness here. If this is the final De Niro-Scorsese production it would be a close to prophetic conclusion to a partnership that'll be remembered forever. We need to treasure this, because it is high art made by the world's greatest living filmmaker. It might be his masterpiece.