A new Martin Scorsese film is by definition a big event for fans of the big screen. The Oscar-winning director has had a lasting impact on cinema since the 1970s with milestones such as ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘GoodFellas’, ‘Departed’ and ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’. It is therefore not surprising that Scorsese is now celebrated in many places as probably the most important American filmmaker.
His new film ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ once again underlines the legendary status of Martin Scorsese. The 206-minute epic with Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro celebrated its premiere at the Cannes Festival and can finally be seen on the big screen in this country from Thursday. Critics almost agree that the visually stunning true crime Western is one of the biggest and most important films of the year – for two reasons.
‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ is first and foremost a groundbreaking return to classic narrative cinema. Not only does Scorsese use the epic running length to create grandiose worlds of images rarely seen today in this incredibly detail-obsessed form. He also takes the time to delve deep into the inner lives of his sometimes very ambivalent characters. “Killers Of The Flower Moon” is a rather uncompromising film because it shows the absolute will to get in touch with every emotion, no matter how deep, of the characters.
In addition, Martin Scorsese has directed a film here that sees itself as a memorial. Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by David Grann, ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ is about the Osage killings, an incredibly dark chapter in contemporary American history. In the early 1920s, the indigenous tribe acquired great wealth from oil deposits beneath their land. Soon after, however, more and more Osage women and men died under unnatural circumstances.
With ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’, Martin Scorsese delivers an epic that gets under your skin and fights against oblivion. This is packaged in a mix of true crime thriller, historical epic, western and love and mafia film. Even knowing what the ending to this terrible story ultimately was, despite its three and a half hour running time, the film consistently manages to keep the audience in a constant state of tension and shock.
The excellent acting performances are undoubtedly responsible for this. Not only Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro present themselves here in absolute best form and will therefore also have an important voice at the next Oscars. ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ also has a lot of quality in the supporting roles: ‘Breaking Bad’ star Jesse Plemons, the brand new Oscar winner Brendan Fraser and ‘Dexter’ icon John Lithgow are also in the cast.