Not a rehash of Goodfellas

Rating: 9/10 (3 December 2019)

This is a very different movie from Goodfellas or Casino, that is, Scorsese does not reuse the pattern he himself created (which is a relief when one remembers the ridiculous The Departed). The movie is basically about an ordinary guy who happens to be a killer who works for the mafia. The focus is precisely on the tension between the trivial and criminal life. This makes Scorsese give up Goodfellas' technical and narrative tricks, making the movie much slower but not at all boring. Of course this causes strangeness. I am sure that the vast majority of the audience will watch the movie expecting to be constantly excited by fast scenes, noisy soundtrack, etc. But the problem here is with the public, not the director. I just think sometimes the dramatic and poetic aspects of the movie are negatively affected by this prevalence of prosaicism.