Another Scorsese Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2020)

In the current year, one could easily be forgiven for having difficulty in giving The Irishman the time of day. Clocking in at three and a half hours long, the type of filmmaking on display here could be argued to be a relic of a bygone era that typically would not connect with modern audiences, which is likely the only reason that Scorsese was forced to seek out funding from a company that goes against all of his beliefs on how Cinema should be viewed.
In this digital age, Western audiences are evidently attracted to more succinct and easily digestible movies that have more in common with episodes of TV than lengthy film epics like Raging Bull, The Godfather and The Deer Hunter. Most people seek movies that they can give somewhere between 1% and 50% of their attention to (allowing them to give the other 50%-99% to their phones) and a film is only considered to be good if it can catch enough of their attention to compete with the limitless entertainment machine in the hands of consumers. This is, of course, with the exception of the big Hollywood franchises including the MCU, Star Wars, etc. and big scale television shows such as Game of Thrones, which people cannot help but give up all the time in the world for. While the emotional impact of these products are certainly not to be disregarded as many Film snobs would have you believe, they rarely are able to produce a nuanced exploration of the human condition that delves deeper than surface level. This is precisely what Martin Scorsese was referring to when saying that these are not 'films', but another, highly significant form of entertainment, that has more in common with Disneyland than The Shawshank Redemption.
A film like 'The Irishman' was therefore destined to fail with mainstream audiences. Ditching all of the excess and pulpy entertainment on display in The Wolf of Wall Street, that provided a truly thrilling experience like no other and pleased both audiences and critics alike, this film offers a slower, more contemplative experience that's biggest strength is its thematic resonance more than its moment-to-moment entertainment (although this aspect still had me captivated from start to finish).
While not without a number of minor technical shortcomings (weak CGI blood, odd editing choices, some poor stunt-work) that one would next expect in a film from a director/producer of this calibre, this film is arguably Scorsese's most mature, poignant, and flawless insight into the human condition since Raging Bull. The film is ultimately about death, growing old, and how easy it is to let one's life slip away by focusing on the day-to-day struggles that are ultimately meaningless. While the first two acts of the film were incredibly entertaining, funny, and tragic all at the same time, the last act of the film contextualises the entire piece in a way that presents an utterly haunting message, prompting one to consider their entire life as a whole and remember that no job, sum of money, or amount of respect from peers is worth the same as genuine human connection - the true meaning of life.