The Irishman (2019)

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2019)

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Harvey Keitel, Stephen Graham, Bobby Canavale, Louis Cancelmi, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Kathrine Narducci, Jesse Plemons, Welker White, Anna Paquin. (R)
Close to 25 years since their last collaboration, director Scorsese and actor De Niro re-team for an examination of mob hitman Frank Sheeran, with particular attention paid to his relationship with infamous Teamsters president, Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). Story spans nearly fifty years, presented in flashback layers, reminiscences from a retirement home in the early 2000s--in contrast to the typical practice of using younger actors and caking on the makeup later on, the veteran actors here are de-aged using digital effects to play their younger selves. Scorsese and De Niro certainly know the gangster movie territory, though this one is far more restrained, introspective, and melancholy than the director's past genre efforts; fitting, considering the way its told and where on their career timelines the effort falls (not just for Scorsese and De Niro, but the supporting players as well--Pesci even came out of unofficial retirement to play crime boss, Russell Bufalino). The elegiac pace is necessary for the material, and it's a treat to watch the director play with the powerhouse cast, but the length is a bit indulgent, especially after Pacino's exit. The culmination of wreckage in a lifetime, however, has rarely been felt so eloquently, and it would be an appropriate career capper should the director never make another feature film--here's hoping that's not the case, however.
88/100