BRIAN VINER: De Niro and DeCaprio together are a truly KILLER combo
Killers of the Flower Moon
Verdict: Masterful storytelling.
Foe
Verdict:Excessively eccentric.
If you were to watch Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon consecutively during a transatlantic flight, they would keep you entertained for the entire duration from London to New York.
It is slightly disheartening for those who appreciate succinct storytelling that the top two potential winners for Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards (according to bookmakers) have a combined duration of approximately six and a half hours.
Scorsese’s extravagant film, featuring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, surpasses the other in terms of duration, lasting 206 minutes. However, it not only tells a significant story but also hints at a much larger one: the horrific mistreatment of America’s native people, often referred to as the country’s original sin. Consequently, the experienced director has appropriately given his film a lengthy runtime, which will be briefly shown in theaters before becoming available for streaming on Apple TV+.
It was inspired by a book, David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction bestseller Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders And The Birth Of The FBI. In fact, Scorsese and his co-writer Eric Roth mostly swerve the beginnings of J. Edgar Hoover’s bureau of investigation, instead focusing on the sustained attempt, by a cabal of white businessmen in Oklahoma, to steal the wealth of the Osage tribe by killing off dozens of them.
In 1897, the Osage tribe experienced a significant increase in wealth after oil was found on their land. By the 1920s, the time frame of this film, they had become the richest individuals per person globally. As a result, they could afford to send their children to prestigious private schools and travel in luxurious cars with personal drivers.
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, grapples with the appalling treatment of the United States’ indigenous population
The Osage Nation gained prosperity from oil, but the valuable resource attracted outsiders who exploited, coerced, and pilfered as much as possible before resorting to homicide.
Based on a true story and told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), this is an epic western crime sag
However, we continue to witness their appalling mistreatment. They are considered incapable of freely managing their own finances and can only do so under the control of white ‘guardians’, who are actively involved in an unjust practice of excessive charging.
Systematic theft, however, is not enough. De Niro plays a cattle baron called Bill Hale, the self-styled ‘king of the Osage Hills’, who affects to be the tribe’s greatest champion and benefactor. He laments the fact that ‘most Osage don’t live past 50’.
However, one of the reasons they refrain from doing so is because he discreetly orchestrates their deaths, often using methods like poison or a gunshot to the back of the head. This allows for the inheritance of their land, particularly if there is a white man within the family.
One of the principal instruments of his dastardly scheme is his sleazy, slow-witted nephew Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), whom Hale manoeuvres into marriage to Mollie (Lily Gladstone), the Osage heiress he drives around.
I had the opportunity to watch this movie for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The premiere of the film was met with great enthusiasm, especially because De Niro and DiCaprio, who are Scorsese’s favorite actors, had never acted together before. It is not surprising that both of them deliver outstanding performances. DiCaprio, in particular, skillfully portrays his character by emphasizing facial expressions that hint at a familial resemblance to De Niro’s character.
However, Gladstone manages to steal the film right under their prestigious noses. She delivers an outstanding performance as Mollie, who witnesses the tragic deaths of her mother and sisters in different dreadful situations, before mysteriously falling ill herself. In fact, on a captivating level, Killers Of The Flower Moon can be seen as a depiction of a marriage. Despite his murderous intentions and being under the influence of his morally corrupt uncle, Ernest truly falls in love with Mollie, and she reciprocates those feelings.
The movie is not a mystery, let alone a motive-driven one. It doesn’t quite fit into the thriller or crime investigation genre, even with the introduction of Jesse Plemons as a clever and persistent FBI agent, occurring late into the story.
Although it may be quite lengthy, this piece is a remarkable demonstration of storytelling from one of the most skilled filmmakers in the industry. It concludes with a surprisingly playful ending that, despite the portrayal of tragic events, will leave you with a smile.
Foe is another drama set in the American Midwest, but in the future rather than the past. The year is 2065 and a young couple, Hen and Junior, played by the Irish pair of Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal but as locals, are living on a desolate farm.
Foe is a different play taking place in the American Midwest, but it is set in the future instead of the past.
In the year 2065, a desolate farm is home to a young couple named Hen and Junior.
Due to the devastating effects of climate change, the U.S. government is actively encouraging the idea of establishing human settlements beyond Earth.
Due to the devastating effects of climate change, the U.S. government is actively encouraging the idea of ‘off-Earth habitation’, where individuals are being sent to live in space for a certain period of time.
Junior has been selected for the program without any clear explanation, while Hen has not. However, the mysterious Englishman (Aaron Pierre) who is responsible for recruiting Junior informs them that once Junior departs, he will be substituted by an AI ‘life form’ that is an identical copy.
Foe is directed and co-written by Garth Davis, the Australian director whose 2016 film Lion I loved, but this intense sci-fi tale quite quickly begins to flounder in its own strangeness. Ronan and Mescal are both terrific, and they have genuinely sizzling screen chemistry (not least in a few pretty steamy sex scenes). But Foe is not really worthy of their talents.
