Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” is yet another masterpiece by one of the greatest directors to ever pick up a camera. The film follows the exploits of Frank Sheeran, (Robert DeNiro), a mafia hitman who is friends with both labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa, (Al Pacino), and crime boss Russell Bufalino, (Joe Pesci), whose worlds ultimately come into conflict with each other with Sheeran caught in the middle.
Scorsese always gets the best out of his actors. The three leads, each so different from each other, all give powerhouse performances. There is Pacino’s loud and boisterous Hoffa who is like a tamer Tommy DeVito, always on the edge and ready to explode. His performance is over the top in all the right ways. Then there is Pesci who is so unlike any of his previous roles. He is not loud here, and he doesn’t revel in violence, though he is a violent character. Instead, he is quiet; so very quiet. The shifts in his performance and the way he speaks are so subtle that if you aren’t paying attention, you might miss them. And finally, there is DeNiro, a man caught in the middle, equally capable of being quiet and loud. His character in a way is a reflection of these very different people in his life and the way he is caught between them.
Scorsese’s camerawork is brilliant. The way he frames the images and moves the camera speak volumes to his genius. Where to place the camera and when, and if it should remain still or move, Scorsese has it down. If this film were silent, the images would speak for themselves.
Ultimately, “The Irishman” is a film about mortality and reflection. Suffused with the usual Scorsese imagery and storytelling techniques, “The Irishman” is a film rather unlike his other gangster films like “Goodfellas” or “Casino,” both of which are rather revelatory in the life itself and give little screentime to what happens after. In this gangster film of his, the tone is different from the start where we see an old Sheeran in a rest home relating his life. This Sheeran is very different from the one we meet in his youth, a violent man surrounded by mobster friends who share his tendencies. This film is equally concerned with what happens after to what happens during. “Goodfellas” gave us a little of this in the final few minutes of its runtime, but here we are given much more to see the effects the life has had on Sheeran.
Sheeran is a rather curious man. Near the end he is speaking to a priest, and he expresses that he has no regrets or remorse over all the people he killed, save one. He is stone cold in this regard. The priest tries to speak comfort to him by saying that perhaps the power of God can overcome any lack of remorse on Sheeran’s part. Much like Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” Sheeran loved the life. He may not have reveled in the killings he committed, for him they were just a job, but he loved the pay and the friends that came with it. But at the end it has all come to nothing. His family doesn’t speak to him anymore because of the man he is, especially his daughter Peggy, who throughout the film has her eyes on her father as though she is some angel of God always watching and reporting. In a way this is similar to Scorsese’s other film “Taxi Driver” where after the carnage of Travis Bickle’s rampage has unfolded the camera watches from above, surveying everything like God. Or as is the case with much of Scorsese’s work this is Catholic guilt, where Peggy can be seen as a priest standing on their platform looking down at the congregation. Her eyes are an uncomfortable presence for Sheeran, but he never seems to repent or has a desire to do so until he is a sad and lonely man with no one to love him, and even then his remorse is stifled. Redemption seems to be far away for Sheeran. Yet maybe the final shot of the film is hopeful. The door is left open after all, even if it is just a crack. This is one of Hoffa’s tendencies throughout the film, but could it mean more than just that? Could this be Scorsese saying that there is a way out for such a man? It’s very unlike “The Godfather” where Michael closes the door on Kay, effectively shutting her out of his life. In the old mob films, the gangsters always got their comeuppance from the law and the bullet. But Sheeran doesn’t. He is like a relic, sitting in that wheelchair of his, waiting for his time to come and dreading it for what might come after. Yet like so many people he is resistant. He wants to cheat death. He even goes so far as to prepare to be buried in a building for veterans because he says it’s less final that way. But what does it matter? Death is all the same; it’s life that’s different.
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Is this movie is so good then explain the runtime of 3hr 29min hmmmmmm? That seems excessive dontcha think
Bloody peaky blindah!