'The Irishman' A Review

The Irishman is a crime drama focused around real-world mafia hitman and labor union official Frank Sheeran(Robert De Niro). The film opens on Frank in a nursing home and through direct address and subsequent voiceover he tells the story of his life. Flashing back to his early post-war days as a truck driver, to a roadtrip in his later years, and back to the nursing home his life is patiently laid out with a clear if somewhat languid austerity.

Much has been made about reuniting De Niro, Joe Pesci, and director Martin Scorsese as well as their parring with Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel- all the Hollywood royalty in one film. However the only real standout is Pesci as Russell Bufalino Frank's mentor and defacto crime boss. Pesci provides a magnetic simplicity, an almost zen like calm, an economy of movement and emotion that is monumentally impactful. For being out of the mainstream for nearly two decades Pesci has not lost a step, he's even gained a startling poise. His is easily the most nuanced, the most interesting, and the most emotional performance in the film. Although it's nice to see Pacino he goes big as he is wont to do in his later career, it's appropriate here as he plays Jimmy Hoffa, but there is no particular freshness about it, he's good but he's not doing anything surprising. Keitel's role is so small it amounts to a cameo. De Niro is certainly better than he has been in some time but that's mostly a result of the material, it's not a half-baked comedy he's doing simply for a paycheck, but his performance, and perhaps you could argue the character, is so simple, so directly on the surface it has no depth. And as the lead character of a three and a half hour film that's a problem. Ultimately he's kind of boring.

The de-aging technology used is not effective, it's various levels distracting and it's at it's best when it's not so obvious that it can be overlooked. It's weirdness is compounded by the casting, as the film jumps around 50 years or so, there is no rhyme or reason to the actual ages of the actors. De Niro and Pesci are in their 70's, the actors that play their wives are in the 40's, Anna Paquin who is 37 plays Frank's daughter as a teenage and twenty something but never at her actual age. On and on. The de-age and use old age make up so much and because of the non-linear structure the year is never particularly clear and so on the whole all of it is a big confusion. It would have been better to simply leave the actors alone and let the audience use their imagination, we have to do it anyway to ignore the periodically glaringly bizarre "young" De Niro.

Visually the film is masterful, the pacing slow but effectively sweeping, but the portrait of this criminal and this time couldn't be more complete and compelling. There is a lot to like about the film and a couple things to love chief among them the patience and skill on display from Scorsese as well as the truly awe inspiring performance from Pesci.

See It.