THE IRISHMAN

Robert De Niro     Al Pacino     Joe Pesci     Anna Paquin     Bobby Cannavale

Harvey Keitel     Ray Romano     Jack Huston     Jesse Plemons

     Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Steven Zaillian used Charles Brandt’s book as the primary source for the movie.  Typical of Scorsese, the story takes 3½ hours to tell.  I was surprised that it held my interest the entire time, which is a testament to the fine storytelling and acting.  I have not read the book, which Brandt wrote [I Heard You Paint Houses, 2004, after he interviewed Frank Sheeran (played by De Niro) at the end of his life]; but the film is convincing in describing the different groups and characters involved in the whole Jimmy Hoffa (played by Al Pacino) mystery and intrigue.

     In the film, Frank delivers meat to restaurants for a living.  When he is accused of stealing some of it, his lawyer, who has connections with a mob, gets him off, and thus begins Frank’s budding career in doing favors for crime bosses Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and Angelo Bruno (Keitel).  Then, Russell tells Frank that Hoffa is interested in him, and Hoffa uses him as his right-hand man for years, sometimes putting Frank between him and Russell.  Frank’s delicately stepping through these waters is something to see and admire.

     Al Pacino as Hoffa stands out as a highly complex figure whose strength is in reading people; this puts him in a slightly paranoid stance at times, but he is often right; and this is a fine line for an actor to pull off.  Robert De Niro shines as the star of the film, showing his sincere loyalties, his ambivalences, and his measured approach to any difficult situation.  His character’s face is impassive, revealing little of what he is thinking, which makes it a somewhat easier role, perhaps.  Joe Pesci is able to show the power of persuasion that Russell has in getting so many people to do his bidding, including Sheeran, involving him in fundamental betrayals.

     The movie goes into details about the struggles between the unions at the time and big business and government, a time when the unions have been victorious, but whose leaders are now in bed with the mob and cavalierly using workers’ pension money in their own games of roulette.  A schism develops between Hoffa and Russell specifically around their differing views of the Kennedys, particularly toward the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy, who is bringing cases against them both of them and the Teamsters, which ultimately triangulates Frank and tests his loyalties.

     Scorsese lives up to his reputation for composing and orchestrating a major production with precision, excellent casting, and editing.  Music by Robbie Robertson and production design by Bob Shaw help create the essentials in mood and look of the 1950’s. Spanning a period of 40 years, using aging techniques for the actors’ appearance is impressive.

     That being said, I personally would have preferred a more abbreviated version of the story, as noted by others.  In my opinion, the 3½-hour length could have been reduced without sacrificing the quality of filmmaking.  

Unless you’re a diehard crime story enthusiast who much prefers a big screen, I suggest you wait for the Netflix edition of The Irishman premiering on November 15.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE HOMESMAN

Tommy Lee Jones     Hilary Swank     Grace Gummer     Miranda Otto    

Sonja Richter     Meryl Streep     John Lithgow     James Spader

     The Homesman is not your typical western movie; it has more to do with human psychology and sociology, and what sometimes happens to those who are under stress and ill-equipped to manage.  Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) is apparently not one of these; she farms a homestead on her own, maintains her house, goes to church, does her Christian duty, and plays the piano.  When she doesn’t have a physical piano, she fingers a cloth keyboard and sings.  When three women in the congregation lose their minds, she volunteers to take them east to Iowa so their families can take care of them.  When two women protest that as a woman she should not take on the task, the minister (John Lithgow) says she is “as good a man as any man hereabouts.”

     She is nervous about transporting them in a wagon across the prairie, however, and when she comes upon a man (Tommy Lee Jones) hanging from a tree, she agrees to cut him down if he will help her take the women east to their families.  He agrees only out of desperation; he is not ready to die.

     The women are indeed psychotic; one has to be tied down because she attacks whoever is in sight.  They seem to have been driven crazy for various reasons, such as losing children to disease, but the film does not always clarify their histories.  We’re introduced to them rapidly in the beginning without much explanation—which I see as a weakness in the exposition. 

     At any rate, the women are loaded onto a makeshift wagon that can be locked from the outside, and Mary Bee Cuddy and “George Briggs”—a name he decides to call himself—take the reins of the horses and head out.  You can imagine (I actually had a hard time of it) some of the issues they would encounter along the way (a runaway, Indians, snow), let alone hygiene (one of the woman has to be held and told to pee), food preparation, sleeping arrangements, etc.  As expected, Cuddy and Briggs will have major disagreements along the way to establish dominance.  The resolution of their conflicts and the outcome of their destination is one of the perhaps unique and surprising endings of a western genre film.

     The Homesman is well directed by Tommy Lee Jones, and the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto is exquisite.  The main actors (Jones, Swank, Lithgow, Spader, and Streep) are some of the best and shine in their roles.  Jones has a couple of song and dance routines that are totally out of his usual character presentations and are a hoot—although you may not be able to understand the lyrics; it’s enough to watch him dance and shout.    Swank easily conveys Cuddy’s strengths, and is able to elicit sympathy—maybe even pity—from the audience during her times of weakness.  Spader and Streep have only cameo roles, but are powerful in the brief time they are on screen.  The actresses portraying the psychotic women (Grace Gummer, Sonja Richter, and Miranda Otto) capture their distresses perfectly.

     The Homesman is not likely to be a film for everyone; I had mixed feelings about it when I left the theater—presumably because of some of the more depressing, hopeless scenes, as well as a rather surprising ending.  In addition, I think one character in particular is not consistent across time with how she is presented initially—not that I’m saying people don’t change, only that how this character is presented in the beginning does not plausibly lead to what happens later.  Not so with Briggs or the psychotic women, all of whose personalities are entirely consistent with their characters throughout. 

Not a homespun tale.

Grade:  B-                        By Donna R. Copeland