Think it's long and uneventful? - that's the point!

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2019)

"The Irishman" is about life, friendship and death.
Early on, speaking of his war experience, Frank (DeNiro) sums up for Russ (Pesci) the way he sees things, what the French call his 'philosophy of life.'
Russ: "Were you afraid of dying?
Frank: "Always afraid. Everybody's afraid. I prayed a lot. I prayed that I'd never sin again if could just get out of here. But the the fighting starts and you forget about everything. You're just trying to survive, stay alive. Whatever happens, happens. You just follow orders."
For Frank, then, as presumably for Scorsese, life is mostly just trying to survive. It's just one damn thing after another. And you forget the spiritual.
This is what the movie tries to embody: a long sequence of 'whatever happens, happens.
What redeems life is friendship. In the same scene, Frank and Russ form a sacred bond - sacred because it is solemnized over bread and wine. Basically, the story of "The Irishman" is the story of their friendship, how it is formed, strengthened, and tested. More broadly, you could say that the subject of the film is men's friendships and falling outs, as experienced with Hoffa, 'Pro,' and the Kennedys.
Note that, in Scorsese's film, men's friendship stands as a bulwark against a threatening world, a shadowy background of uncontrollable necessity (here represented by the mob).
And then there is death.
"Maybe they thought that if they did a good job, the guy with the gun (Death) would change his mind."
Scorsese seems to be saying that, no matter how well made your movies, you still end up in the same place.
Against this background, Scorsese plays with a number of metaphors. Life as a journey, a road trip. At the end, what? Thus the long introductory tracking shot suggesting confession and absolution, but also playing chess and putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
The film succeeds as an attempt to embody a mature view of life, But that is not enough. After so many scenes, the viewer asks himself, "what was that about?" old actors grotesquely unconvincing as young men; too many of those exchanges where one man drags another's feelings out of him; and not enough action scenes to balance them. Ultimately the viewer leaves with the prime question unanswered: "What kind of man is Frank? What is his character? What drives him?"