Killers of the Flower Moon is every bit as long as you have probably heard.
I devoutly believe that Martin Scorcese is one of the greatest directors of all time. And that he really doesn't like superheroes. But I had to think rather hard to work out if I had ever actually seen a Martin Scorcese movie. (Full disclosure: I was just about to type "apart from Apocalypse Now" but, fortunately, Wikipedia exists.) It turns out that I've seen the one about the sax player (which has Robert De Niro in it) and the one about the Las Vegas boss (which has Robert De Niro in it) and the one about Jesus (which doesn't).
Killers of the Flower Moon has Robert De Niro in it. I know very well that De Niro played the young Vito in Godfather II and Al Pacino played Michael in all three, but I still get them mixed up in my head. It also has Leonardo DiCaprio in it. Leonardo DiCaprio is the young lad who got drowned in Titanic and subsequently stabbed in Romeo and Juliet. He isn't so young any more. I don't know if either De Niro or DiCaprio literally employ the techniques of method acting, but there is a smouldering, under-stated, close-up inhabiting of the role going on which makes me think of Marlon Brando. DiCaprio's mouth goes down at the edges so he looks like a permanent sad-face emoji. In fact he looks quite a lot like Marlon Brando, so I have the overwhelming impression of an older version of the young Vito Corleone and a younger version of the old Vito Corleone in the same scene. De Niro plays DiCaprio's uncle. There is a weird scene in which he spanks him as part of a masonic ritual. I am pretty sure that's twice DiCaprio has been spanked on screen.
Is anyone getting the impression that I am not sure what I ought to say about this movie? It is, I think I mentioned, very long.
I thought it was going to be western, but it's actually set directly post-World War I. We're in Oklahoma, where there is an odd, and apparently completely historical, social set up: white people live alongside native Americans on the latter's land; the Osage Indians are fantastically rich due to having found oil on their reservation. The law requires them to have white guardians, which means they are often exploited and the local prices have become ludicrously inflated. At one point we see a white car dealer selling an Osage family a car and telling them that if it gets a flat tire or runs out of gas, they should come back and buy another one. Later, an undertaker charging thousands of dollars to arrange a funeral is accused of charging "Osage prices".
Ernest (DiCaprio) who is not very bright, has come back from war to live with Bill "King" (DeNiro), who is very clever and very evil. It transpires, very slowly, that white people can inherit oil rights from pure-blood Osage natives. "King" persuades Ernest to marry an Osage named Molly (Lily Gladstone) with a view to inheriting her wealth if she were to die. One very long thread of the film is the ambiguity of the relationship: it is never quite clear to what extent Ernest loves, or comes to love Molly and to what extent he is simply furthering his uncle's schemes; and it is not quite clear to what extent Molly is taken in by him. Bill cold bloodedly and arranges for the deaths of all Molly's relatives, so that she controls all her families oil money, but Ernest hesitates when he is supposed to kill his wife (by adulterating her diabetes shots.)
And then some representatives of the newly formed National Bureau of Investigation show up and the whole scheme begins to unravel. There are deals and counter deals. Ernest is going to testify against his uncle in return for immunity; and then he isn't; and then he is again.
It all seems to be pretty much historically true and pretty meticulously researched. To my untrained eye, the Osage rituals seem authentic; there is certainly no cowboys-and-indians exoticism. (I don't think I had realised that there were communities in which indigenous traditions and Christian traditions were practiced alongside each other: we see white neighbours attending an Osage naming ceremony very much as they might attend a Christening.) Some people have said that the film concentrates substantially on the murders and treats the victims as a supporting cast, but Molly certainly comes across as a powerful individual.
I am a sucker for long serious films with depth, like There Will Be Blood and the Assassination of Jessie James and the three gangster films I mentioned earlier. Killers of the Flower Moon, to give it it's due, doesn't feel like a two hundred and ten minute movie. It's certainly slow-burn, but it never feels like a slog. The vast length allows us to watch extended Osage ceremonies, to listen to conversations with insurance men and lawyers; to linger over reaction shots form on DiCaprio's none-to-bright face. There isn't too much exposition of the basic set up; we have to take the time to immerse ourselves in the world and gradually get a feel for what is going on. I was pretty much engaged from the moment Ernest fetches up in his Uncle's ranch. I am slightly inclined to describe these great big films "novelistic".
It's very macho and quite violent; there's whiskey and cigarettes and punch ups and card games. It has an enormous cast, and exactly which bad man did what to whom at which point flummoxed me in places. However many times I see the Godfather Trilogy, I can never fully get straight who double crossed who and who exactly is getting garrotted at the opera. But the last third of the movie is about the FBI investigation and the subsequent trial, which goes back over the events and makes things quite a bit clearer.
It is, as I believe I mentioned, very long. It is very absorbing, and there is an awful lot of actings.
It is, as I believe I mentioned, very long. It is very absorbing, and there is an awful lot of actings.
There will be Oscars. I really haven't seen Raging Bull or Taxi Driver.
I'm Andrew.
I am trying very hard to be a semi-professional writer and have taken the leap of faith of down-sizing my day job.
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