The Irishman - New Scorsese film

[Doc67]

I spent over 4 hours ploughing through this film. It's actually 3:29, which really is a length that should be reserved for blockbuster classics, and a film of that length is almost impossible to get through without interruptions. This film is neither a blockbuster and nor will it achieve classic status.

It is about Frank Sheeren (Robert De Niro) who was a hit man for the mob in the post war period through to the mid 1970's; it's the usual Scorsese genre.

It starts slowly and never really seems to get going. It has all the stellar line up: Robert De Niro; Joe Pesci; Harvey Keitel; Al Pacino (all looking very old), Steven Van Zandt (Silvio Dante from Sopranos) plus, somewhat bizarrely, Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond).

Throughout the film they freezeframe the film and caption the name of the person pictured with commentary like, "Anthony 'Fat Tony' Goombah - shot in face 7 times in Ney York 1979". I don't know if these people really existed and many are nothing but walk on parts or just shown having dinner with one of the characters. They use this 'technique' to interweave the characters to characters that have been covered in other mob films, particularly Goodfellas, another Scorsese offering and infinitely better. This doesn't make it a prequel or a sequel, but more of a missing few chapters from other contemporaneous mob shenanigans. It sort of works, but it does seem a bit desperate to give the film credibility.

The film's main theme is as much about the life and death of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) as it is of Frank Sheeran, which was interesting enough for a Brit like me who had heard of Hoffa but knew very little else about him, other than they never found the body. The film tells you how and where it went by the way, but you'll have to watch the film to find out! If the film is historically accurate about Hoffa, then he was a fucking idiot that got what was coming to him.

I would recommend this film if you are at the start of a 10 hour flight, have just dropped a chill pill and need something to watch that won't excite you.

[phuketrichard]

I enjoyed the film and loved the character development and interaction.
did find a need to take a few breaks ( one of the reasons i prefer watching flicks at home vs the theater)

Yes they all existed.

It will go down as one Martins best...and a fine continuation to his other mafia/conspiracy flicks.

Downloaded the book and will start on that soon.
The Irishman ( I Heard You Paint Houses)