The Irishman is an epic crime-drama film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese and written by Steven Zaillian. The film is based on the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt.
This is the ninth feature film collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro; And the seventh film featuring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci together, most of them are directed by Scorsese. And surprisingly, the film marks the first partnership between Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese, which brought all the legends together.
The film depicts the life of Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and his crime family. The film also follows Frank to his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), who has financial ties with the Bufalino crime family.
This is Scorsese’s longest feature film yet with the runtime of 3 hours and 29 minutes and surpassing his previous 3-hour film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). The direction and cinematography of the film are excellent. This is Martin Scorsese’s best gangster film since Goodfellas (1990). It has a nostalgic retro feel to it and has the perfect background score. The film is slow-burning, and that’s how it should be – a slow-piercing drama having legendary actors engaged in conversations. For some people, a dragged drama may feel boring. Undoubtedly, the performances of all the characters are flawless, I mean, why it won’t be.
The main part of the film is the use of digital de-aging technology. It is been used extensively to portray the younger self of the lead characters. The use of this technology is so perfect that it is difficult to point it out. In one of the interviews, Martin Scorsese pointed out that while the senior actors were digitally de-aged in their faces (and in some cases aged) there was still the challenge of acting physically younger (or older) in their posture, gait, and energy level. Scorsese claimed that attention was always paid to the characters’ exact age in every scene, including subtle changes of only a few years.
Verdict : The film is a must-watch for Scorsese and crime-drama genre fans.
Rating : 4.1/5
Check the trailer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXxVmeGQUc
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