Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

92% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 356 reviews)

Runtime: 206 minutes

Directed by: New Letterboxd member Martin Scorsese

Starring: Many famous faces... most prominently DiCaprio, De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and most spectacularly, Lily Gladstone

From: Paramount/Apple

Due to my schedule-not to mention its 3 ½ hour length-it wasn't until last night that I had the pleasure of watching & now discussing the most recent flick from new Letterboxd member Martin Scorsese. As has happened before, when a popular new release isn't witnessed immediately upon release, my opinion will inevitably be colored by the opinion of others. With Killers, I knew that most on Letterboxd love the picture but I saw differing opinions elsewhere.

On Twitter, at least one person found it “self-indulgent” and thought DiCaprio constantly scowled-the latter opinion I disagree with-and on another site someone I know casually respects the film but thought it was a downer. At his point in life, pictures about human suffering (this wasn't apparent to me in the trailer—the movie is full of anguish and torment for the Osage people, especially one character in particular) was not a genre he wants to visit often. Truth be told, this probably will be like Raging Bull for me in that revisits will be infrequent-if ever-although thank goodness it was seen by me.

Regrettably, the Osage Indian Murders was a topic I knew hardly a detail about before seeing the movie. Likewise, the Tulsa Race Massacre (also in Oklahoma & happened concurrently with those murders) was completely unknown to me until several years ago. In short: the reservation the Osage live on was discovered to have oil fields. They became rich, but white people acted terrible so via marriage then deaths, they would get all that oil money. If you are Native American, the movie might be quite the difficult sit; I know some Indigenous peoples found Killers to be quite the ordeal. Your mileage will vary; regrettably, white people in the past acted atrociously in conquering the lands of those who had darker skin or colonizing those people. Those sins are horrifying; hopefully in the future white people can do better. But enough proselytizing from me.

Killers is not an easy experience; what helped make it not a 3 ½ hour exercise in endurance was the sobering reality that the events depicted were based on a true story. There was a dimwitted SOB who was manipulated by someone and he cause much mayhem/grief to too many people. We follow DiCaprio as he moves to his uncle's estate, which is on Osage land in Oklahoma. Leo falls in love w/ Lily Gladstone and throughout this journey we encounter quite the variety of characters. It's never difficult to follow & I was riveted despite the rough subject matter.

The ending was rather, let's say, “unexpected.” Then again, now I understand it was a recreation of an actual event so with that context it is not so bewildering. In addition, even I was starting to feel the length, although that may be my expectations and little to do with the storytelling. Those that wish for more of the Osage perspective-I wouldn't have minded that either. Otherwise, I hold little complaint; the amount of time spent driving to the cinema & back then the almost 4 hours in the cinema itself felt worthwhile. Of course I have to praise the performances of DiCaprio and De Niro as they played complex characters and at times the camera lingered on them so the audience could witness the masterclass in acting in various scenes. Also of course, I was blown away by Lily Gladstone; never having seen any of her work before, she was tremendous in a difficult role.

The rest of the cast delivered; this included various musicians in roles as shady characters. As it has become a controversy in certain circles-mainly, not Letterboxd-Brendan Fraser's small part... now, don't expect me to see The Whale, like ever; it sounds like the sort of picture that will turn me off. It's been ages since I've seen Fraser in anything. He plays a lawyer—personally, I stereotype all lawyers from that era to be boisterous and bombastic, which the character is in the courtroom. On the other side of the coin, we also see him outside the courtroom and while that character has to be forceful for a reason, he isn't constantly YELLING. Henceforth, to me it was not a bad performance or something that was needlessly LOUD.

Anyhow, I don't need to say that the direction from Marty or the editing from Thelma Schoonmaker were stunning, as they were. However, I do have to note the score from the late Robbie Robertson, himself of First Nations heritage. I loved what he created, and how it was perfect for the film. A shame he passed away two months ago; the Academy are seen as stereotypical for good reason, yet IMO it would be tough to create a better score (not to mention awarding someone posthumously) or act better than Gladstone did in the movie—I imagine both will receive those gold statues next year.

The “Scorsese vs. comic book movies” debate is just tiresome now; while it's fun to dunk on misguided fools like The Escape Pod podcast, the whole argument is reductive and no one's mind will ever change. Myself, I prefer the serious pictures that Marty does, including Killers of the Flower Moon. It was an arduous journey—one that to me was worth taking due to the teaching of a tragic moment in 20th century American history.