Martin Scorsese's The Irishman is a masterpiece in storytelling. A powerful, poetic case study in humanity, loyalty, and loss . . .
. . . and I would have hated it had I seen it at any other time in my life.
Scorsese's name is synonymous with films about organized crime. (Although I'd argue Raging Bull is his best movie, and The Last Temptation of Christ is near the top of his career-best list.) While he's directed more non-gangster than gangster flicks, you can't think of his movies without thinking of the mob. Especially Goodfellas and Casino.
I'm unsure where The Irishman ranks in quality compared to these films. But, I know that without them this film could not have been made.
I saw Goodfellas in my mid-20s, and I relished every minute of it. Fast paced and fueled with testosterone, the story about men taking chances and trying to build a life (albeit a life of crime) made sense to me at that age. Casino was released as I entered my 30s, and I connected to it in part because it mirrored aspects of my life at that time. The chances I took at that age were more mature and more calculated than those of my 20s, but I was ambitious and focused on protecting the life I was building.
If I'd seen The Irishman at 25 or 30 years of age I might have been bored out of my mind. But the movie really hit home for me, perhaps due to my age. I understand Frank Sheeran's reflection on what a lifetime of deceit and crime cost him. I get the soul-searching that occurs later in life, when one wonders if decades-old decisions were correct. I know from experience that youthful ambition leads to poor decisions, and that regret about those decisions comes with maturity and age.
The Irishman is old-man Scorsese sending a message to his younger self, to the Scorsese who directed Goodfellas and Casino, that there's much more to life than immediate gratification and money.
I get the message, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment