1058 The Irishman

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barryconvex
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#326 Post by barryconvex » Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:50 am

I loved this. Which is not the reaction I had to the book when I read it a few months ago in anticipation of the movie. I didn't think Sheeran was much of a character. Those thoughts lingered into the first twenty minutes of the film until it occurred to me that the qualities that made Sheeran so effective as a mob enforcer are exactly the things I thought he lacked as a dramatic vessel. He's quiet and when he does speak is monosyllabic and inexpressive, has no real interests outside of work and family, never expands his circle beyond a handful of people, has no deep conflicts or antagonists. But whatever he lacks is filled in by Pesci and Al Pacino and carried off by DeNiro in a classic performance. He plays Sheeran as a man not just loyal but devoted. He never complains, executes every order faithfully and without fault and seemingly exists to do his superiors' bidding. It's why he ultimately finds himself as Jimmy Hoffa's right hand man.

The tagline on Netflix mentions betrayal but I'm not convinced that's accurate.
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Pesci's character (Russell Buffalino) is the one Sheeran would never cross and he remains true to him until the very end. Hoffa is good to him but it's made clear early on when an order comes from Buffalino it supersedes all else. In one of the movie's best scenes and one of DeNiro's career defining moments his daughter asks him "why"? "Why do you need to call Hoffa's wife two days after his disappearance?" Sheeran reacts like he's never heard the word before in his life, like it's never occurred to him that such a term could exist. He places the call. He stumbles his way through a reassurance that everything will be fine. He hangs up. Sheeran shows he's capable of remorse, he does have feelings and regrets. In his own way, he cares about his wife and children. He has a heart but his soul is blank. Scorsese's covered this territory before but this is not a movie about a man losing himself to a lifestyle the way Henry Hill does in Goodfellas or the self destruction of Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull. His daughters are terrified of him when they're young but as they mature they see him for what he is: a blunt instrument of a human being. A man who picks out his own coffin and mausoleum slot. The only time he mentions love it's for a Lincoln Continental.
This is an elegy as much as a journey through the past sixty years of America. So much of which is gone forever and it gives the movie a tone I don't think Scorsese has explored previously. He's contemplative and the film has a strong feeling of finality to it. I'd be surprised if he ever revisits this world again, what else is left to say? The Irishman is long like Sheeran's life is long and the closing act, watching these characters grow elderly and infirm is deeply moving. But while the movie might be reflective it's never a drag. And if this is to be the last mob themed work Scorsese produces** how nice it was to spend it with Pesci (who turns in an unbelievable performance) and Paul Herman and Welker White as Hoffa's wife Jo among several other familiar faces.



** understandable but still a shame since it would deprive the world of Scorsese directing Stephen Graham, who was born for these types of roles**

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barryconvex
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#327 Post by barryconvex » Thu Nov 28, 2019 7:01 am

..it's directed like someone grudgingly paying back a favor...
Paying back a favor is spending three years and however many hundreds of millions to make a three and a half hour mob movie?

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#328 Post by Aunt Peg » Thu Nov 28, 2019 8:46 am

I'd love to know how many people worldwide watched The Irishman within the first 24 hours after it 'dropped'. A country by country breakup would be nice too but I doubt Netflix will release the information unless they saw some advantage in doing so.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#329 Post by Persona » Thu Nov 28, 2019 10:04 am

What a film. I liked it for the first hour, when the route to Detroit started getting repeated I knew I was probably going to love it, the quiet climax of the film is a wonder of mature storytelling and filmmaking, the extended elegy of the coda is even better, and the final shot drops like a hammer on the genre and context the film inhabits.
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I think of the final shot with the closing door in The Godfather and how this non-closing closing shot inverts that to strip away all mythos and opera, leaving just the truth to sit before you.

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TwoTecs
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#330 Post by TwoTecs » Thu Nov 28, 2019 12:09 pm

The Irishman: In Conversation, which autoplays after the credits or can be searched, is very interesting and I would recommend everyone to watch it. The piece also contains new behind-the-scenes footage.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#331 Post by aox » Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:10 pm

TwoTecs wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 12:09 pm
The Irishman: In Conversation, which autoplays after the credits or can be searched, is very interesting and I would recommend everyone to watch it. The piece also contains new behind-the-scenes footage.
Thanks for the tip.

I unfortunately won't get to this until Saturday at the earliest. It's killing me.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#332 Post by Finch » Thu Nov 28, 2019 3:41 pm

Re final shot, it made me think of The Godfather, too.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#333 Post by HinkyDinkyTruesmith » Thu Nov 28, 2019 8:36 pm

I've seen this twice now––once in a theatre, and now at home. It's almost my favorite Scorsese, although I still prefer the exuberance of Casino. This still is as assured, and if it's more leisurely, it's clearly a deliberate choice. It moves slowly but surely, and I was astonished during my first watch at the fact that not once did I ever find myself bored or hoping for something else. It's a brutal, hilarious film, one that was perhaps even funnier on second watch than on the first.
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I don't know about anyone else, but I went in not realizing that Sheeran claims he killed Hoffa, so the entire sequence in Detroit played incredibly effectively for me. It's funny, as I rewatched it, because the first night the two spend in the hotel together, when DeNiro picks up the gun and walks towards (and ultimately away from) Hoffa's door, I had a dread sense that he was going to use it, although I knew logically that wasn't going to happen. It feels like a very gentle foreshadow.
This is clearly Scorsese's reckoning with the entire condition of postwar masculinity and society. I think it's the best film of the year, by far.

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mfunk9786
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#334 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:00 pm

DarkImbecile wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:24 pm
Reverend Drewcifer wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:20 pm
...but this is a movie without a point of view.
Can we add a “Most Wildly Incorrect Statement” to the annual forum awards?
Should have just avoided the forum today, yeowwww

barryconvex - wanted to single out your write-up as very enjoyable and insightful, especially your analysis of the phone call scene and how it fits into Frank's persona

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Persona
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#335 Post by Persona » Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:36 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:00 pm
DarkImbecile wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:24 pm
Reverend Drewcifer wrote:
Wed Nov 27, 2019 9:20 pm
...but this is a movie without a point of view.
Can we add a “Most Wildly Incorrect Statement” to the annual forum awards?
Should have just avoided the forum today, yeowwww
You think this is bad, try going on a thread about this movie on a forum with tons of Marvel fans. They are THIRSTY to talk about all the ways they think this movie fails.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#336 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Nov 28, 2019 11:13 pm

mfunk9786 wrote:
Thu Nov 28, 2019 9:00 pm
barryconvex - wanted to single out your write-up as very enjoyable and insightful, especially your analysis of the phone call scene and how it fits into Frank's persona
Seconded, especially your highlight of the word “why” as the key to magnifying the passivity of the character and connecting this to moral awareness. It’s worth noting that “why” questions are ones that Hoffa would have no problem answering and would even embrace.

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tehthomas
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#337 Post by tehthomas » Fri Nov 29, 2019 12:23 am

Watched this last night (couldn't have a thought of a better way to spend Thanksgiving eve than watching this and having a few drinks).

My initial thoughts are this is probably the best Scorsese film, in my opinion, since "Casino" but it is also a very different type of film of the gangster genre.. as this has been commented on.

Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit (I moved to Chicago in my early 30s), I have a personal connection to this film as it deals with Hoffa and Detroit, and these parts I loved. Coming from Michigan, I can tell you that the shadow of Hoffa still looms large and he was often talked about in my undergraduate journalism classes, referenced by professors that lived through that era and went on to cover figures such as the "hip hop mayor" - Kwame Kilpatrick. Which, btw, where is the Kwame movie!? God ol' mighty is that something I would love to see. The Crimetown podcast on him is highly recommended for the curious.

But back to Hoffa and "The Irishman" - I thought that Scorsese really executed the feeling of what that man meant and it is incredibly prescient now (teachers and nursing union strikes).

And let me tell you about that last act...
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I lived just a stones throw from the restaurant that Hoffa disappeared from and I was on the edge of my seat from the time that Frank called Hoffa while on the road with Russ. I don't think I can ever drive past that location/stretch of road again thanks to brilliance of Scorsese, DeNiro, Pacino and Pecsi
.

And one more thing, to FINALLY, have a film with DeNiro, Pacino and Pecsi (not to mention Harvey) directed by Scorsese is a dream. This is Marty's swan song, perhaps his "Mona Lisa" -- even though we know he is not done yet.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#338 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:59 am

Immediate impressions. Watched it in 4K on my brother's 75 inch behemoth, which I felt made up for the theatrical experience a little. The CGI felt a little stiff early on but otherwise not too troublesome for me.
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Really bummed Pacino only had one moment with Keitel, and there was no audible dialogue. The one scene between him and Pesci is maybe one of the major highlights for me.
It's an impressive piece of storytelling, the timing of it's release so perfect on every level. It carries the weight of the relevance of it's actions in today's world, but is also very personal. These relationships are far from the stock mob movie cliches we have seen an infinite number of times.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#339 Post by Murdoch » Sat Nov 30, 2019 11:12 pm

I loved this and while it may be blasphemy to say, I'm glad I watched it at home over in the theater (I just don't think I could last out a 3 1/2 hour movie straight through without becoming impatient).

The brief text pop-ups mentioning how each bit player died was a great addition that really emphasized how Sheeran was more of a witness than a character, a vessel to walk the viewer through this time in US history. Similarly, I think my favorite part of the film was his relationship (or lack thereof) with his daughter Peggy. It's a small part of the film in the same way those text pop-ups are, but that relationship carries great weight and importance to the film as a whole. The subtle way she grew distant from him, not because of any cruelty he inflicted against her but rather because of what she saw and heard around her about him. It felt far more realistic than anything else I've seen about a parent and child growing distant - how the child learns and forms her own opinion of her parent while that parent is largely absent, her view informed by brief moments that linger in her memory. For such a grandiose story, I appreciated that small detail the most

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#340 Post by The Pachyderminator » Mon Dec 02, 2019 2:45 pm

I found this rather like Silence in one way: both films left me coming out of the theater rather dazed, but becoming more and more convinced that it's a truly great film while chewing on it over the next few days. It's extraordinary how such a long narrative is sustained so unfalteringly with so few big moments, and those that there are so relatively restrained. So much dramatic heavy lifting is done through incidental episodes, seemingly insignificant conversations. Think of the rare steak anecdote, the vodka watermelon, the weird bit about fish in a car, the repetitive driving shots - everything is there for a reason. I can't think of any part of the running time that was wasted.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#341 Post by domino harvey » Tue Dec 03, 2019 3:53 am

This movie reminded me of Visconti's Ludwig: a long, mostly unexceptional movie devoted to a mostly unexceptional individual whose greatest impact was on someone more interesting than him. After decades of films in this vein, several from this director alone, I didn't think there was anything else to say about the mob going into this movie, and I came out confirming that thesis. Sure, it's watchable, and doesn't really feel that long (don't lump me with the "It's boooooring" crew, thnx), but I had none of the emotional, intellectual, and/or aesthetic connections just about all of you had to this material, these characters, and/or their narrative journey. I've just seen this film too many times.

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tenia
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#342 Post by tenia » Tue Dec 03, 2019 5:32 am

There is, I think, a difference here in that Scorsese, for once, absolutely explicitly paints the mob as despicable people who only deserves to end up all alone. No late regret, no christian redemption can change this. They chose to go in this direction, that's their choice, and they need to own it up because they deserve what will happen to them.
It's all the more specific here that, in the end, Sheeran doesn't have any real reason to go working for the mob like he does. He just happens to do it, but has no ambition, no goal. He's mostly apathetic to this. There is some kind of "respect" facade, but it doesn't seem very deep.

However, it did seem overlong to me, with many repetitions that seemed becoming quickly superfluous, especially in its mid-section. It also seemed over-convoluted to death with its 3 framings (the main story, the driving journey and the flashback narrative), which weigh on the movie's pace.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#343 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:03 am

tenia wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 5:32 am
It's all the more specific here that, in the end, Sheeran doesn't have any real reason to go working for the mob like he does. He just happens to do it, but has no ambition, no goal. He's mostly apathetic to this. There is some kind of "respect" facade, but it doesn't seem very deep.
I wonder how much of this is Frank's own PTSD after World War II. He grew up a certain way, and then was expected to fight for his country. He comes home, possibly looked at in a better light and saw what he did later on as only a continuation of defending a certain way of life, but to a much more personalized end of providing for his family. He compares Hoffa to Patton and while he doesn't come out and say it certainly saw himself more as a soldier than gangster. It's to that end that he cannot come to understand why his daughter cut him off.

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tenia
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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#344 Post by tenia » Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:00 am

I don't know. It all seems very casual in the movie, like if it had been someone/something else, then so be it, but it was the mob so here you go. I suppose Frank was receptive to this way of life somehow, but he seems blank most of the time. There's a feeling like he's working in a factory, checking in in the morning and out at night. "Oh, the boss has a special request ? Ok" and not much more to it (with the required opportunistic way of life, though).

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#345 Post by nitin » Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:08 am

It’s a mix of an existing lack of moral centre combined with the further desensitisation to human life from the war. The war flashback shown supports this I think as even though he is being asked to do horrible things, he doesn’t seem overly perturbed by it (or at least not by the possible umpteenth killing of german POWs shown in the flashback).

The working in a factory vibe and following orders is kind of the point.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#346 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:39 am

And there's no sex, drugs and rock and roll to be titillating enough to see it as an exaggeration. I'm into the first chapter of the book and the movie seems very faithful to the tone set by Sheeran's actual memory of events.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#347 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:08 am

Something I’ve been thinking about in the last few weeks is how Scorsese’s casting of De Niro seems to have a potentially ulterior motive in lieu of the director’s claims in recent years that his friend is turning in ‘lazy’ (I forget the exact word) performances. I’m not saying De Niro isn’t good here, but while he has plenty of subtly effecting moments, his general demeanor is one of ‘coasting’ and more emotionally apathetic responses than the average Joe. Since the character, and thus the entire movie as I see it, only works if the actor exhibits these passive qualities in every movement, it feels like a kind of hidden trick on Scorsese’s part, an inverse of the invasive tactics filmmakers usually use to manipulate the actors for the final product. I’m not saying this was even a completely conscious decision, but it feels like Scorsese found a way to take what he saw as weaknesses in his friend’s development and use them as invaluable strengths.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#348 Post by Black Hat » Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:40 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:08 am
Something I’ve been thinking about in the last few weeks is how Scorsese’s casting of De Niro seems to have a potentially ulterior motive
Financing. Deniro's the only reason this film got made.

domino harvey wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 3:53 am
Sure, it's watchable, and doesn't really feel that long (don't lump me with the "It's boooooring" crew, thnx), but I had none of the emotional, intellectual, and/or aesthetic connections just about all of you had to this material, these characters, and/or their narrative journey. I've just seen this film too many times.
Nailed my sentiments exactly.

Only thing I haven't seen anybody remark on and none of my friends have been able to sufficiently answer is
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Why did Pesci take his sunglasses? Was it to make sure he'd see a dead Hoffa and thus serves as a warning?

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#349 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Dec 04, 2019 11:22 am

Black Hat wrote:
Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:40 am
therewillbeblus wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:08 am
Something I’ve been thinking about in the last few weeks is how Scorsese’s casting of De Niro seems to have a potentially ulterior motive
Financing. Deniro's the only reason this film got made.
Right, because nobody wants to distribute a Scorsese movie, or one with Pacino, unless De Niro who is at his career peak is involved.

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Re: The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, 2019)

#350 Post by Roger Ryan » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:47 pm

Black Hat wrote:
Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:40 am
...Only thing I haven't seen anybody remark on and none of my friends have been able to sufficiently answer is
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Why did Pesci take his sunglasses? Was it to make sure he'd see a dead Hoffa and thus serves as a warning?
Don't know if your friends suggested this, but...
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...my impression was Bufalino wanted Hoffa to be able to see Sheeran's eyes to put him at ease; Sheeran "hiding" behind the shades might have caused Hoffa to suspect something was up.

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