I know that this film had a limited theater release.
It was playing near me, only in one theater...University of Victoria...Cinecenta.
I did not go but almost.
This film is a masterpiece in storytelling. I watched it last night (Netflix).
Scorsese painted a canvas with all the ingredients that only a master filmmaker uses; period time with props and cars and decors and actors and every detail that counts from the camera lens and the viewer eyes. The timing and movements are top notch, the story compelling, the acting first rate, the entertainment factor highly deserving of Oscar awards.
I could write a very long analysis on all film aspects of this latest Scorsese's movie, and I will...uncensored, unedited, "nude in the flesh" (figure of speech).
From the first note and frame you are never let go; we follow the camera as life magic itself.
Every single view is filled with authenticity, every character, cameo, every wall, every lamp, every word, every road.
This is part of filmmaking @ its very best and also part of history on highly influential character people from all venues of society; from unionized organized group (the largest ever in the USA), to political figures, to normal families, to corrupted leaders, to mafia organization, to hitman, to undercover money deals, to a world of crime.
Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), we all remember when he disappeared and the events @ the time.
Was he kidnapped and put in a trunk of a car? To this day, 45 years later they never found his body. The film is based from the book
I Heard You Paint Houses, confessions by Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) a hitman for the mafia and best friend of Jimmy Hoffa. The book was written by former homicide prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney
Charles Brandt.
How did Hoffa truly disappeared? Can we trust Frank? That's up to you to do your research and find out ... The film (book) gave us a closing case. Or is it?
There is so much info in this film, so many plots, facts, and real life drama, sadness, roughness, human failures, emotionally charged and on the wrong side of life with tragedies that happened in a world of money pension control (lowest low lifers of them all), in the same batch as drug dealers, killers, corrupted politicians, corrupted companies, ...all that is bad in the world.
Some might think that 3.5 hours is too long for a film; think no more...it cuts through butter with the sharpest edge. If I was to describe the entire film it would take 3.5 hours to read, to draw, to view. Better yet just to watch it and get into it for yourself, because it was made especially for you, and nobody else, I included...a simple messenger without understanding the full impact it might have on every single person, zero clue.
I could write a long essay about this latest Scorsese's film and what everything related or not, and I will. As we follow Frank in his journey and his encounters with the mob and Hoffa, we really draw in, there's no escape (Martin Scorsese made sure of that), and with guys like De Niro, Pesci, Pacino, and everyone else (all actors and actresses) in the film, we are @ the mercy of it all and its film director.
For me music scores in films play a major role, except in silent films, and here to a lesser extent.
Marty sure uses great old tunes, and Robbie Robertson's music comes in critical moments without even being aware of it, or very very transparently invisible. It's the actors who play the music...that's what I mean mostly. The overwhelming music score is non existent here in the state of real affairs acting. It is not overwhelming, exactly, to me.
* Some silent films are more powerful than the most sound active films.
I would have loved The Irishman filmed in black and white, that's me, that's the way it is.
Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 coming up later on ...
This is only a very very short intro to what's coming up next...into the heart of the matter.