REVIEW #69 The Irishman (2019)

The Irishman is a crime dram directed by Martin Scorsese, which follows Frank a truck driver who works his way up through the Pennsylvania crime family after meeting Russel Bufalino. From a simple driver to one of the biggest hitmen in the organisation, it follows Franks live right up until retirement.

CAST & THE ACTING 

The cast is impeccable, with Robert De Niro as Frank, Joe Pesci as Russel, Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, Harvey Keitel as Angelo Bruno and Stephen Graham as Anthony Provenzano. This will probably be the last time we see the 3 iconic main actors in a film together, which is both beautiful and sad at the same time. Although they have all aged considerably since their prime days in the Godfather, Goodfellas, Taxi Diver etc, they still delivered great performances. The only thing I could probably criticise out of the whole film is a couple of the action sequences, for example there is a scene where De Niro beats up a shop clerk for shoving his daughter, he looked a little stiff and rigid which is expected for an actor who was 75 at the time so I can’t really hold that against his performance. Stephen Graham is brilliant and is rightly being recognised as one of the all time great English actors, so it’s nice to see him getting the credit he deserves lately. The chemistry between the cast just works and it comes across very clearly on screen which is why the ensemble is so reliable in films of this genre, it’s their bread and butter essentially. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

The film is a long one, three and a half hours long which means it does have its slower moments but in general the plot is really captivating. De Niro’s narration does well to keep your attention and helps explain the plot to the audience so we get a clear idea of the hierarchy in the crime family and the role of each member which helps flesh out the story. The film is set over pretty much every stage of Frank ‘The Irishman’s’ life as an adult all the way up until his days in a home for the elderly, what this does is portray the changes in his mentality throughout his life which creates clear character development. The effects of this is the audience actually see him as a really likeable character, even though he is a hitman working with the biggest crime family in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of components to this film which help build this metaphorical hierarchy in the audiences mind and as I mentioned previously some moments can feel rather slow but they are needed so stick with it and pay attention otherwise you can miss some important moments. It’s also based on a true story, which makes it a lot more interesting!

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

This is a film where cinematography was so important, creating those iconic scenes that come along with these huge crime dramas and most of the scenes looked really good! Special effects were used to de-age the cast which looked incredible, the state of the art CGI software looked so realistic that you couldn’t tell it was special effects at all. This helped tell the story and show the different stages of Franks life, so although it would have been super expensive, it was definitely worth it! There wasn’t really any other special effects used, I guess the idea is to keep it as simple as possible to create a true sense of realism so that the audience feel like they really are just watching a piece of history and connect to the ‘true story’ element of the film. I also want to credit the sets, props and costumes because they are integral at showing the period the scenes are set in. The film ranges from 1949 all the way up to 2000, with it switching back and forth through different moments in time, so the set/props/costume all act as key indicators to the time frame of the scene. 

OVERALL (8.5/10)

I think the film was really good, some people may be put off by the 3.5 hour long duration but as I have mentioned in previous reviews, I prefer really long films and don’t have an issue sitting through them. The cast is incredible and the fact that it’ll probably be the last time we see them in a film together makes it more special. The plot is based on a true story which always helps captivate an audience and the audience always knows what’s going on because De Niro’s narration is really effective. If you’re a fan of the crime drama genre then I would recommend this film for sure, it has its slow moments but it’s nice to appreciate Martin Scorsese and all the cast in one film. It’s no surprise that this film was nominated in many categories at the Oscar awards ceremony.

Thanks for reading.

Callan