Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

[Eric S'ennui]

Discuss

[JustLurking]

I don't really know how american scores work so I won't bother with that. This was fantastic to me, certainly one of the best of the year but for me also one of the best for Scorsese. My initial reaction would probably be to top 5 in his filmography to me (I would put Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Silence and now this in it).

 

I'm not sure how I'll feel about this initial take on rewatch, or even when I will rewatch it, as it was tough to get to the end; the horror of what is put on screen is incredible, even if I had a rough idea of the story the sheer nonchalance with which the kills happened was something else; seeing a man claiming to love his wife while playing an important part in the death of all the most important people in her life as well as her was something else. By the time I was done, it had gotten to me a bit.

 

Not sure if that was the intended effect, but the fallout from this sad episode of history being narrated in a sort of "show" at the end drove home just how swept under the rug the entire thing was. No one cared. Even after the entire thing was "resolved".

 

From a technical standpoint the film is excellent. The first scenes reminded me of Goodfellas, the recreation of the time was vibrant and immediately got me immersed. Lily Gladstone and DiCaprio are amazing in this. I was worried about the runtime (especially because I am not the most nocturnal person - and I hadn't slept too well - and my show ended past 1AM) but I ended up not feeling it, I felt this ran by a lot faster than Irishman.

Edited October 21, 2023 by JustLurking

[MOVIEGUY]

I can't get over how fucking good this movie is, I'm still buzzing over it. Only Scorsese can do it like this. It's utterly bleak and the subject matter is horrible, but the movie never becomes a miserable slog thanks to the incredible performances and masterful direction. Lily Gladstone is the heart of the movie, just an incredibly naturalistic and moving performance, but De Niro is incredible playing evil incarnate essentially. I think it's easily one of his best. And what a fantastic and fitting score from Robbie Robertson, RIP.

 

Go watch this movie.

Edited October 21, 2023 by MOVIEGUY

[titanic2187]

Mid-tier Scorsese movies but not because the movie is mid, more like because of he made too many great films. 

I think overall the movie is a well earned 3 hours 26min but some parts definitely I feel the scene stay too long. 
 

also among Scorsese movie, I find flower moon is weaker in term of crafting character interaction. There are time I don’t really feel Leo, Deniro and other characters as a single interest group like how i feel for goodfellas, or wolf of Wall Street. Therefore when the gang are falling apart, the downfall impact felt diluted. 

 

[Jonwo]

Ernest was such a pathetic loser, Leo played him really well, it's a three way tie between DeNiro, Leo and Lily Gladstone in terms of performance.

 

I'm impressed how quickly the murders were solved even if it took a long time to even be investigated.

 

 

[abracadabra1998]

My letterboxd review (same username as here):

 

No one does epics like Scorsese. From the opening montage to its final scene, he makes two things very clear:

1. How much he respects the story he is telling, going deep into minutia that any other director would overlook, and

2. How much he wants this to not be just any other biopic. The initial montage was so creatively done, and the ending scene so much better than any letters on black screen could have done. 

 

In between, Marty employs a number of just incredible technical bits: from long shots of numerous outdoor sets with hundreds of extras, to still and creatively framed shots of many, so many horrific murders. My favorite device might just have been how he represents the passage of time, and how these murders are changing Osage country, from the central family to the town itself changing, with bits of modernity added and the racial dynamics changing. This is, needless to say, always shown, never told.

 

The acting is all great (with the excerpt in of Brendan Fraser, a small blot in an otherwise perfect sea of performances). De Niro plays the perhaps the best devil since Christopher Waltz’ Hans Landa. But the standout is Lily Gladstone; I had loved her in the few episodes of Reservation Dogs she was in, and he truly makes the most out of every minute she’s in the frame.

 

The elephant in the room is the runtime. And it’s true, while I was never bored, you can feel the runtime. The tricky thing is that because every part of it is intentional, I don’t know what I could cut without undermining the film severely. The first act goes by briskly, the second act dwells in the mystery and injustice of these murders, and when the third act, we are desperately craving any bit of Justice we could get, just like the Osage. And man, if it feels so easy and obvious who did it, it’s because they didn’t bother much to hide what they were doing; it’s just that not many cared.

 

Thank you, Martin Scorsese, for bringing this story to our screens and to our conscience. The day he stops being able to do that, our world will be much grimmer indeed

[filmlover]

Finally saw this. Martin Scorsese has delivered a truly epic motion picture that shines a light on little-known atrocities committed about a century ago while wisely avoiding any histrionics or "white savior" tropes that can often be found in movies centered around the mistreatment of minorities. It may be long at nearly 3.5 hours, but it's rarely anything less than engrossing.

 

Reuniting with his two favorite leading men (and bringing them together in one of his movies for the first time), Scorsese has brought excellent performances out of both of them. I won't call this one of my favorite Leonardo DiCaprio performances but he does a strong job of finding the humanity in a complicated fellow. Robert De Niro, even though he could play this type of role in sleep, is also superb as a man whose civilized manner is a mask for something more sinister. But Killers of the Flower Moon's heart and soul is Lily Gladstone, whose marvelous breakout performance is worthy of any and all awards consideration.

 

I don't think it quite approaches the heights of Scorsese classics like Goodfellas, The Departed, or The Wolf of Wall Street, and there are times where the long runtime and lack of a fast pace can cause it to drag a bit when a little more urgency would've been welcome. But this is another tremendous addition to the filmography of one of our greatest filmmakers and one of the year's must-see movies, whether it's in a theater or at home (when the pause button will be an option) when it becomes available to watch that way.

 

A-

[Torontofan]

I think directors need to stop thinking 3 hrs plus films automatically equal great cinema.

 

This was a good movie but the story being told coukd be done in 2.5rs at most.