Bitty Ruminations 96 – Killers of the Flower Moon
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SPOILERS AHEAD
Right from the ultra-dramatic — yet, ultra-muted — opening, I was hooked, hooked, hooked. We see hands, then we see a body, then we see that a ritual is in progress. Martin Scorsese prioritises the Indians in this story right away, and the staging after that is so “classic”, I was practically squirming with delight. For instance (and maybe in a hat tip to the famous crane lift in Once Upon a Time in the West), we see the full extent of the “oil-isation” of the land, with drill machines and all, only through the eyes of the stranger, as Leonardo di Caprio enters the picture, driving to his uncle’s house in his car.
For about two hours, I was gripped. Lily Gladstone’s face is a metaphor for the movie — grave, beautiful, sad, silent (or rather, filled with unspeakable depths that are only hinted at in gestures). And oh sweet fucking Jesus, the filmmaking, the fucking filmmaking. To know what a masterclass in editing is, you need only to see the cuts in the scene where Robert De Niro (what a one-note villain! why not give him more shades!) makes Di Caprio sign a document after a lengthy stretch of convincing. Some of the cuts land on the lines, breaking them. Some of the cuts land on the pauses. The acting by the two is MAGNIFICENT! The entire film has the smoothness of butter, not a shot feeling out of place, not a shot feeling showy, and with every sequence being built visually, like in the films of Classic Hollywood.
As someone who loved The Silence, and did not care much for The Irishman, I thought this was a great director at his greatest — until the script began to unravel in the last hour or so. From a mysterious story about a vanishing tribe, it became a clunky police procedural about how they caught the bad guys. And given that we know who the bad guys are, this stretch is remarkably banal compared to the genius of the two-something hours before. But there are still many lovely moments — say, in the way we are made to wait for the cut to Lily Gladstone’s face, her reaction shot, during Di Caprio’s confession. (The tension is unbearable. By bookending his speech with cuts to her face, the entire “during” of the speech is bereft of her “reaction shots”, which make us feel what di Caprio is feeling all the time. He does not dare look at his wife, and we are not allowed to, either.). And the film is, warts and all, a solid, worthy watch. (What a genius idea to remove the banality of “showing” what happened to the bad guys at the end by refusing to “show” them at all, and instead, staging this like a radio play.)
I am going to be very interested in what looks like a two-horse race for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. On the one hand, Scorsese is senior, he belongs in the pantheon, and he may never make a Great Movie™ again. So why not give it to this one, which is a… Good Enough Movie™ especially given that it talks about the Important Topic™ of American Indians. But on the other hand, Nolan has never been awarded, and his film — though it did not move me much — is Good Enough™ too, especially given that it talks about the Important Topic™ of the opening of the Atomic Age. I am rooting for Killers, but may the best Good Enough Movie™ win!
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