KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON - Review | Cannes Film Festival 2023

Martin Scorsese’s latest film is certainly grand in scale but diminished, raw, and grounded at its core. Less of a detective drama like in the book and more of a Western gangster film which may prevent it from being a unique addition to his filmography. But at three and a half hours, the film never stops being captivating as we witness all the repercussions caused by the individuals letting greed and prejudice towards the Osage Nation take control of them. Through its unforgettable opening and closing sequences, every aspect of its production feeling so genuine, and career-best performances from DiCaprio, Gladstone, and De Niro, Scorsese’s streak of excellence continues with this bold and enthralling take on showcasing a true tragedy with authenticity.

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During the 1920s when returning to Fairfax, Oklahoma after serving during World War I, Ernest Burkhart (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio) reunites with his uncle William Hale (portrayed by Robert de Niro) and is informed on how the Osage Nation became the wealthiest Native American tribe in America for the excessive amount of oil underneath their territory. Thus, Ernest starts striking up a romance and marries an Osage woman named Mollie (portrayed by Lily Gladstone). However, when one member of the tribe after another start getting murdered, Hale entices Ernest with his plans that lead to heavy repercussions.

As someone who read David Grann's extraordinary book which this film is based on before seeing it, the perspective from this review might be more biased compared to someone who isn't familiar with the story. It's essential to address this because the film and the book contain different structures for how information is revealed and what it chooses to focus on while still following the same story beats. As the murders aggravate which makes them garner more publicity, an officer of the Bureau of Investigation named Tom White (portrayed by Jesse Plemons) is tasked with taking the initiative to solve the case. Unfortunately, unlike the book, Plemons' character feels vastly under-utilized and underdeveloped since the film barely focuses on the investigation and unraveling of information. As a result, screenwriters Scorsese and Eric Roth chose to take a different approach when helming the project. Therefore, the character whose perspective we follow went from Tom White to Ernest Burkhart.

However, regardless of what side of the story is being focused on, both manners work exceptionally well, and choosing to execute the film like this makes it feel vastly impactful when seeing what bold and ferocious filmmaking choices Scorsese utilizes. The manner in which Scorsese decided to tell the story certainly makes it follow conventions that have defined the filmmaker's work in the crime genre. From telling rise and fall stories, to following criminals demonstrating their greed through their actions, to having these stories span multiple years. While this presentation makes it feel less unique considering how many stories Scorsese has told in a similar way (Films like Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and The Irishman (2019)). He keeps managing to make them all riveting in their own manner, including Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) which borrows a similar tone and style to his latest films (Silence (2016) and The Irishman (2019)) as a more mature and less upbeat version of his crime epics.

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After an opening sequence so masterful that immediately does its job to engage audiences in the world and story of Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) from showing the Osage Nation enthusiastically discovering oil in their lands that cuts to a retro-style montage showing the escalation of their wealth and impact. All essential information necessary until following Ernest's journey is just efficiently communicated through frenetic visuals and different mediums which perfectly establishes the feel and time period of the film without the need of over-explaining.

From there, viewers become even more absorbed in the world due to the various amounts of sets, costumes, sceneries, and locations feeling as precise, authentic, and lived-in as they could be. Honestly, after making movies for decades, this is probably the most well-realized that a world has felt in Scorsese's filmography. Its overwhelming budget and being a period film certainly contribute to that. But what matters is how the budget is spent to make everything feel as lived-in as possible which could not be more evident through the dynamic dolly shots that let viewers take in everything that's shown in each frame.

Long runtimes have defined Scorsese's work for a while. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) is no exception to this being his second longest film at three hours and twenty-six minutes. Luckily, not a single scene feels wasted for telling such a grand story which could easily make it feel bloated and overlong. But the film's decision to mainly focus on the people responsible for exacerbating the murders and how they deal with it makes it feel like a narrative with a clear purpose rather than attempting to tackle each aspect of the Osage Nation tragedy. Thus, it's Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro who take viewers on this disturbing and avaricious journey as they deliver the stand-out performances of the whole film.

Lily Gladstone as Mollie certainly becomes the most sympathetic character that displays such natural and convincing acting with just a look on her face, especially as the film progresses. But it's DiCaprio and De Niro whose schemes/actions are the driving force of the story that fully embody their characters and have non-stop opportunities to display a wide variety of emotions despite their despicable behavior. De Niro's flawless southern accent is something new to hear that makes him disappear into the role along with his demeanor that takes the best from his charming and menacing performances.

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But honestly, it's Ernest who's the film's most dynamic and complex character where DiCaprio displays his on-screen enthusiasm and vulnerability as great as he always does. Except that the depth that this role provides really lets him deliver a performance with so much emotional weight behind it as he becomes conflicted with who to follow and what choices he has to make until being forced to see how its affected his loved ones and himself.

With Scorsese letting each scene play out with the necessary amount of patience to make sure that every aspect of the story and world feel both believable and developed. It ends up creating an experience worth investing in where everything that's set up feels earned. This includes the portrayal and journey of Ernest that allowed DiCaprio to possibly deliver his greatest performance to date. All these aspects coming together result in a near three and a half hour-long film where the consistent immersion in the story and characters makes it so easy to forget about a runtime this long. Also, Brendan Fraser deserves a shout-out who may have very minimal screen time, but he gets a scene that allows him to command the space which keeps on showing his true acting chops.

After nearly six decades of making films, it's honestly unprecedented to have someone like Scorsese continue to make bold and masterful films on this scale while bringing together the two most iconic actors of his career and have them deliver equally amazing work. At the same time, his genuine and grim portrayal of this true event involving genocide toward Native Americans without seeming cheap makes it one of his crime films with more meaning behind it. This clearly becomes represented by its powerful ending and mesmerizing final shot which would feel unconventional to include based on how the sequence of events are playing out. But it'll allow viewers to truly reflect on this situation and appreciate how well the film executed it.

Movies with these budgets telling these kinds of stories and being executed in this manner are incredibly rare to see. Thus, it's a miracle that Scorsese is able to get films like this made and have them turn out as well as some of his greatest body of work. It was a true privilege to see the world premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) months before its wide release at the Cannes Film Festival while being part of an audience that got to first discover another excellent but profound Scorsese epic.

Verdict

9/10

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Also if you have some time, here's a crazy article by The Washington Post about how I ended up seeing the film this early in the first place. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/05/22/martin-scorsese-cannes/