The Irishman

“What kind of man makes a call like that?”

Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4

The Irishman was based on a novel that De Niro discovered in the early 2000s and went through development hell until released today on Netflix. It's Martin Scorsese's latest film since 'Silence.' It stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino with supporting roles from Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, and Sebastian Maniscalco. 

Essentially, this film is a series of flashbacks told from the narration of a much older Frank Sherran where he reflects on his life and relationship with Jimmy Hoffa, which the film has a fun schtick about nobody knowing who Hoffa is anymore. 

This three and a half hour long epic was one of the smoothest experiences watching a film I had this year. Never did there feel to be a boring or even confusing part. It's essentially a triple narrative where Frank tells the story of how he met Hoffa, the things he did with Hoffa, and the end of their relationship. 

This sprawling epic was phenomenal. The performances in this film are subtle yet threatening to where you could distinguish all the visual subtleties that everyone was giving off besides Al Pacino who is left to go big and loud - which still works because there was not an overabundance of that particular kind of performance. 

Joe Pesci is definitely the stand-out in this film. He was asked to be in this film by Scorsese personally, thus coming out of retirement. Pesci portrays such a different character than we're used to seeing. It's as if Pacino and Pesci swapped roles at the last second. 

It was also fun seeing Harvey Keitel pop up and even Sebastian Maniscalco who I love as a comedian who was also in 'Green Book.' But here he is in a Scorsese film. It was delightful seeing this group of older actors not embarrass themselves and got to truly act in a great film again. Most of all Al Pacino who was in 'The Godfather,' but sank to films like 'Jack and Jill.' The de-aging of the actors was not noticeable at all. Perhaps once, you may acknowledge it, but you're then dropped back into the film and completely forget about it.

As a three and a half hour film of people talking, it's shocking how gripping Scorsese is at directing this film. It's a film where you lean back and relax because you know you're in safe hands of the greatest-living filmmaker. 

For Scorsese, it is the usual 'rise and fall' structure of a lot of his films, but this film's nonlinear structure helps curve that element. This is actually the first Scorsese film I have reviewed, I believe. But out of the Hollywood Brats, which consisted of Scorsese, Lucas, Spielberg, De Palma, and Coppola, Scorsese is the only one left who is still making films as good as he used to forty years ago; he's still going strong. Spielberg still makes good movies, but none like his early filmography. Scorsese still has "it. I didn't find this film as emotionally touching as something like 'Once Upon A Time In America,' which 'The Irishman' shares some similarity with, but it still has that core friendship between Pesci and De Niro that I found very touching. 

This sprawling epic is a delightful film that takes its time to tell a story that spans almost sixty years. It's a good decision to have this on Netflix because it would have tanked in theaters.

Rating: See It

-Nolan