Thanksgiving is the perfect time to release the Irishman, and I don’t even mean because you need a 4 day weekend to watch it. There’s always that black sheep uncle filled to the brim with horrific jokes or governmental conspiracy theories so crazy you consider drowning yourself in mashed potatoes. For those of you stuck sitting next to that uncle at dinner, I guarantee you he’s excited for the Irishman. It’s about Teamsters and the mob. It stars Robert De Niro…And Al Pacino. It brought Joe Pesci out of retirement! And its directed by Martin effing Scorcese!!!! The Irishman gives you a year respite from that yearly conversation with a Fwd:Fwd:Fwd email.
Frank Sheeran (De Niro) was known as a man who “paints houses” for the mob. He comes into power unassumingly, after bonding over car trouble with infamous mafia don Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). Loyal and smart, Frank earns more and more of Russell’s trust over years of favors. Russell trusts him so much that he assigns Sheeran to protect Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) as the Teamster leader rose into power publically. Sheeran finds out he might also be there to remind Jimmy who keeps him in the public eye in the first place…
Watching the Irishman is the equivalent of a musician’s Greatest Hits album and farewell tour. You get the feeling Scorcese wanted to prove one last time that he has the final say on men and organized crime, and give the greatest actors of their generation a sprawling epic to craft that story. Scorcese’s giving us flourishes we know him for: tracking shots following various people, voiceovers, whimsical captions for characters that actually say something awful, pop ish soundtrack: techniques that are still effective, but remind us a tad of better films they’re used in. Most importantly, Scorcese gives us a career cappers for 3 legendary actors, especially in the organized crime genre. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci all elevate the Irishman with their committed performances. De Niro is the Irishman’s glue, using his macho charisma and short brash speaking style to well known effect. De Niro channels that style to show Frank Sheeran’s power and also simultaneously his crutch: he can never be powerful because he can’t command a room like his employers. Al Pacino is doing his post Scent of a Woman routine, where he tries to command every scene he’s in by dialing it up. Thankfully, Jimmy Hoffa loved the spotlight, so that fits what Pacino chooses to do for the character. But the biggest thanks I gotta give Marty Scorcese was getting Joe Pesci to come out of retirement to play Russell Bufalino. People who think Pesci can only do trigger happy characters like Goodfellas or Home Alone should watch The Irishman to see how wrong that is. Pesci elicits the same power that Tommy DeVito uses in Goodfellas, but goes about it entirely the opposite way. The minute he shows up onscreen, Pesci carries Bufalino with reserved control. He never shouts. He never emotionally dials it up. Tommy DeVito was scary for his bad temper; Russell is scary for opposite reasons, a testament to how talented Joe Pesci is. Glad he got to show us before going back to hitting the links.
[SPOILER WARNING] BELOW IF YOU DON’T KNOW FRANK SHEERAN’S STORY…
So is The Irishman’s story any good? Why did Martin Scorcese want to make this movie? The obvious reason is that Sheeran claims to have killed Jimmy Hoffa, so directing a tense 20 minute sequence where that happens is clearly how he got this film financed. However, I would argue the last 30 minutes or so are what the talented director values most. In all movies about gangsters, most of the heroes go out in a blaze of violence; in The Irishman, so many people get whacked that Scorcese doesn’t have time to show them all, and uses captions to explain how they died. This movie is about Frank’s memoir, so you know he’s going to be alive at the end of this. I think what fascinates Scorcese is how mafia people justify their abhorrent behavior, and what do they do when their services are no longer necessary. The freshest ideas in the Irishman revolve around those two questions, and are viewed at through multiple character’s lenses, including Frank’s quiet daughter Peggy (Anna Paquin). In order to get to those ends, Scorcese just ties in this epic story about Teamsters and the criminal underworld in America, a wild swing only someone like Scorcese could pull off.
Like Toy Story 4, The Irishman was probably never going to hit the highs of Casino, or Goodfellas. However, as a capper on a type of movie everyone loves, The Irishman is a wonderful, 3 and a half hour sendoff for Martin Scorcese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. And no, uncle George, this isn’t the greatest movie of all time. And there’s no way Jimmy Hoffa let you near him. Also, Obama doesn’t control the weather…