Scorsese's Mafia Meditation

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 2019)

The Irishman is a really great film, albeit one that took me a couple viewings to fully get behind, and it might, ironically, given Scorsese's penchant for a theatrical experience, be better suited for the small screen than the big.
This film was a challenge in the cinema. Aside from its epic runtime (sans intermission) and languorous pacing, I was fundamentally disappointed with the CGI work on the actors, and how the de-aging process translated to the big screen. It was far less 'obvious' and unsettling on a smaller screen, which it appears designed for. Blowing up aging actors to cinema size, warping their features and expecting me to suspend disbelief was a step too far on first viewing, and I couldn't shake the sensation that in many scenes Joe Pesci looked more like Gollum than Russell Bufalino.
But by the second viewing I had gotten more used to it, and focused more on the story, details, and the acting behind the tech. The actors all shine, and the script by Steve Zaillan, which on first viewing felt had too much lard, now feels full of zest, and taut, essential scenes which amount to an epic meditation on the mob.
Scorsese's signatures are all there and more pronounced than ever - his love of a moving camera, old music and actors from his repertoire. His merging of murder and domesticity, as seen here in Pesci's Bufalino explaining calmly to De Niro's Sheeran how they 'did all they could' for Hoffa, as he tosses and tastes home made salad dressing, or the choosing of an arsenal by laying the weapons out on a bed, a throwback to Taxi driver. And lots and lots of wine, and lots of bread.
The film does appear to fully commit to this particular Hoffa narrative, and whether the reality is as close to the film is impossible to know. There have been many accounts from those in-the-know who have deemed the Irishman Frank Sheeran a fabricator. But the point of this film is not to bring history precisely to life. This is a film about people who have done bad things, and have to live with or die by those decisions. And about how those who outlive the consequences still have to live with themselves.