An instant (modern) classic

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2019)

The Irishman proves to be one of Scorsese's best. It's a slow-telling story with its own pace but it just makes us feel the reality of what truly happened in the depths of the American mafia. It reminds us of The Godfather, there's no question about it (in a dining scene you can almost swear you hear the chords of The Godfather's theme song), with some subtleties of Tarantino's humour.
The story of Frank Sheeran is a story of a man who ranks up to be the hitman and friend of the headmaster of a mob family, Russel Bufalino, and of his friendship with the president of the teamsters' union, Jimmy Hoffa. To properly tell this story, Scorsese joined Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci all together; and may I point out they are truly remarkable. Al Pacino gives us one of his best performances of a man who is relentless and refuses to give up of the things he fought for. His character is balanced by the calm but intimidating presence of Joe Pesci's Russel Bufalino who always keeps his profile up no matter the problems.
Besides the actors, one must talk about the directing and the editing: the intelligence of how the cameras move and jump from the past to the present show us the ability Scorsese possesses to tell a story in the right way, which only a few can. One of the other things worth talking about is the production design. Nowadays, everything can be made, but The Irishman has a large period range (50s-80s more or less) and sincerely captures the essence of these times.
So, even if it's long and slow paced, The Irishman just makes you immerse in the story and enjoy one of the finest modern directors' work. One among the best of the year.