A Personalized Epic

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2019)

"I heard you paint houses..."
Before I sing the praise for this movie, let me begin with its flaws. The film can be confusing and if you are not familiar with Jimmy Hoffa and American gangster history. By trying to cover almost 50 years, the film sometimes skips historical details in favour of moving the story. The run time does feel excessive at times, with some of the scenes and ideas repeating constantly. There were times I wondered about how far along the movie was instead of being focused on the story.
Despite all this, I was never bored, and according to the laughter, neither were my theatre patrons.
One of the criticisms of Scorsese is that he often celebrates the exuberant lifestyle of criminals. Rather than admonishing the criminal lifestyle, he usually revels in the excess. The Irishman does not celebrate nor chastise. Instead, this movie is a sombre reflection of a man following a duty. Frank Sheeran, portrayed by Robert De Niro, is not your typical protagonist. He does not have a glaring character flaw, nor does he learn a big lesson at the end. His character felt more human; his lack of distinct character arc made him feel more human. As we do not have a character arc and when we do learn something about ourselves, it is often too late. It takes Frank 40 years to learn that he put his priorities in the wrong place, and his stubbornness at the end of his life made me wonder if he did learn anything from his life.
In the film, Scorsese forgoes flashy camera movement and cinematography, focusing more on the characters and their relationship. The camera often lingers on what feels unimportant, and you can see the characters ponder about their predicament. However, this does not mean that the film lacks camera work; there are impressive 1 minute long takes peppered throughout.
As always, the use of music was impressive. So many musical choices felt purposeful and did not distract from the visuals. After only watching the movie once, by listening to the soundtrack, I can picture the exact scenes in my mind. As well, this is the first time I thought that diegetic sound was used creatively in a non-comedic way. The use of silence was also masterful. Once again, it was not used excessively nor sparingly, and instead of trying to add suspense, it felt like the director was trying to convey what the character was thinking.
Finally, the acting. With the combined talent of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, it felt like all the acting in the world. Personally, whenever Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were in the same scene, I was excited. With Al Pacino's more boisterous performance with De Niro's nuanced reactions, they told a compelling story. Due to the length of the movie, we could see the natural shift in their relationship over the decades. Every character relationship felt natural and human. It did truly feel like they were improvising rather than reading from a script.
This film is an epic in the vein of Godfather and Goodfellas, but at the same time it feels more personal. It is a film I gave an 8/10 walking out of the theatre, but after thinking about the scenes and the message, I am inclined to give a 9/10. I love thinking about this movie, and when it comes out on Netflix, I cannot wait to see it again.