By Kyle Osborne
You might well say that director Martin Scorsese is plowing familiar ground in The Irishman, an epic mobster movie that features his two legendary go-to guys: Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.
But, come on, who would you rather see at the helm of a 3 ½ hour biographical drama that takes us through the decades with a voice-over guide (De Niro in the title role), peppers the proceedings with pop culture touchstones ranging from hit songs to Mid-Century furnishings to big ass, gas guzzling cars the size of apartment units, and pops the balloons of built up tension with spurts of shocking violence?
Nobody, that’s who. Also- Al fucking Pacino in the role of famed Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa, whose actual whereabouts remain a mystery after suddenly disappearing in 1975, but whose fate is given credible speculation here.
NetFlix has spared no expense in giving these living legends everything they needed to make a pedigreed film that plays a limited run in theaters starting November 1 (November 8 in Washington DC), before landing on NetFlix beginning November 27. It is gorgeous to behold.
Based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, De Niro is Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a World War II veteran who starts his civilian career as a truck driver, an ambitious hard worker, who stumbles in to sketchy work on the side with the Bufalino crime family. Taken in by Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci at his best since Goodfellas), Sheeran becomes a trusted friend of the family (in both senses) and an occasional hit man, too. While ascending the ranks, Frank also becomes a confidant of Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino chews the scenery as only he can, but it’s endearing and occasionally comical, never annoying).
Caught between the opposing interests of Pesci and Pacino, De Niro will have to reckon with questions of loyalty, mortality and even how things affect his relationship with his own children. And all of this is told through the eyes of an 83-year-old version of Frank who looks back on his life over 50 years. He is a lonely man in a nursing home, looking back on an eventful life. The device not only works, it brings real poignancy to the final half hour of the movie.
Much has been written about Scorsese’s employment of digital effects to age and de-age his cast. For me, the less said, the better. The trick is mostly pulled off, and, at any rate, you’ll be too absorbed in the story to give it much thought after the initial shock of seeing the face of 76-year-old De Niro as his character in his 30s.
Robert De Niro “de-aged”
The cast is huge and deep, but it’s the dance between Pacino and De Niro that keeps you interested for the lengthy run time. That said, Joe Pesci should expect a Best Supporting Actor nod (remember, he won for Goodfellas and gave a one sentence acceptance speech), but for an understated performance. His character is weary, ruthless, and quiet. There’s a stillness that forces you to focus on Pesci’s now 76-year-old face-every line on his face in sharp relief.
Yes, Martin Scorsese giving humanity to people who trade in the inhumane has been done before. There is no way for this not to be familiar. But it is different and The Irishman stands as a strong argument against the conventional wisdom that artists do their best work in their youth. These guys may walk more slowly these days, but they haven’t lost a step.