Killers of the Flower Moon is many many things — for starters it’s the 80 year old Martin Scorsese’s 26th directorial feature film outing. It’s also a referendum…an unflinching look at America’s past, and by doing so, reckoning with Hollywood’s. The US film industry has not been in any way kind to the American Indian, a fact that got Marlon Brando’s representative, Sacheen Littlefeather boo’d at the 1973 Oscar’s. Scorsese had directed his first film, Who’s That Knocking At My Door six years prior. He grew up going to the movies — afflicted by asthma as a child, he found solace in Cinema. And often the movies he would see were westerns — a genre that consistently portrayed American Indians as brutally violent and ‘uncivilized’.
By choosing this story, the story of Mollie Burkheart and the Osage Nation, Scorsese immediately flips the stereotype. The opening sequence is a black and white early Hollywood style explainer that establishes the Osage as the wealthiest people on Earth. They have the finest clothes, whiskey, cars, _____. that money can buy. The white people in the opening frames are bumbling around, desperately trying to get in proximity to any Osage — to the riches that oil has brought about. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Ernest Burkheart is one of those white people. His Uncle, “King” William Hale played by a vintage Robert De Niro, is already entrenched in the community.
There’s an interview clip I often refer back to, that I recently used in my documentary examining Paul Thomas Anderson’s career , in which the Coen Brothers laugh about a shot in their first film — the camera dollies on a track over a drunken man asleep at the bar like a mini rollercoaster. They refer to the camera move as a symptom of youthful exuberance that gets washed away with age and experience.
Scorsese with Killers is as mature a filmmaker as there has ever been. He’s got a steady hand guiding every camera move — when he needs to he summons flash, to add some juice behind a dolly or a whip pan it’s there on command but it’s so controlled. To call it restraint would be incorrect given his tendencies at this point in his career but this is largely an understated film. Outside of a few unbelievable all-time shots for which DP Rodrigo Prieto should win best cinematography, he plays things straight.
There’s a comfort sitting back and watching a master work— and make no mistake he’s still at the height of his powers. This is one of the five greatest filmmakers to ever live and after walking out of the theater today, I am convinced that he either deserves Best Picture or Best Director in 2024. In sports terms, this is like if Tom Brady unretired 5 years from today, then won MVP and a Super Bowl in the same year. It doesn’t make sense that he’s still this sharp, still pushing the medium forward, all while understanding the moment and the culture. This story, that’s really a microcosm of White Supremacy and America, how Europeans conned, stole, raped and murdered their way into unimaginable wealth and land…could not be more relevant.
Early on, I kept thinking how similar the Osage story is to Black Wall Street, only for the Tulsa race riots to show up in footage on a newsreel in the film and for the line ‘it’s just like Tulsa’ to be spoken out loud. Minority groups climbing the social ladder through legitmate means in America were a threat to the established order . . . Scorsese’s a wise guy. Eric Roth and him and Leo rewrote the script to recenter the perspective of the film — they realized they were making another entry into the White Savior genre before calling the audible. The change in focus made Mollie Burkheart , brilliantly played by Lily Gladstone, the center of attention. Almost anyway…DiCaprio’s Ernest is the main character. This has been the main sticking point for critics — although not a white savior film by any means, should Ernest be the main character. I wrote about this in the Oppenheimer review , actors of the superstar status to which Leo belongs have a gravity that essentially pulls the movie towards them. This movie is about the Osage, about Mollie and what is brought upon her. It’s a fair critique, it’s a nuanced discussion that I won’t fully get into here. I will say that while she may not be the main character, she is the heart of the film. There is a short scene in which Lily Gladstone’s performance sent goosebumps across my entire body. Her face and how she reacts is the crux of everything — and she’s wisely given the last word. Another referendum…in real life, as Scorsese literally points out in the final moments, her obituary ommitted any of the harrowing details of what happened to her. Not here. The record is set straight once and for all.
Understated is right…the violence is clinical. This is not Goodfellas nor The Departed. It’s matter of fact and brutal and cold. There are very expressive moments in the film — it’s a deliberate choice to portray the violence with a ‘this is what happened’ dryness. It’s as if he’s saying, don’t look away, I won’t let you. This is our history, we cannot run from it.
Yes it’s 3h+ …Robert Downey’s inclusion in Oppenheimer made an otherwise briskly paced 3 hour runtime drag a bit. In Killers of the Flower Moon, there’s nothing unnecessary. To say it’s too long is to say something needs removing. Good luck deciding what that is.
It’s contemplative and mature. Moments are allowed to unfold. Longtime collaborator and editing genius Thelma Schoonmaker keeps things moving tightly — there’s almost a dreamlike quality to the way scenes roll into the next. It’s hard to explain how the pacing feels but I kept coming back to Scorsese himself saying he had to think differently to pace this right. And I understand what he means completely now having seen it. I can’t explain it myself but I get it. Anyone complaining about the runtime is a coward. It’s not a boring movie at all, it’s engaging start to finish and rewards you for staying with it. But you have to give it that engagement.
A verse from the book of Job was referenced by Robert De Niro’s seemingly pious William Hale…it’s hard not to think of the story of Job when confronted with what happens to Mollie. God, approached by the Devil, is tasked with pronouncing a human as his holiest, most devout follower. The Devil then makes a bet with God that he can make Job, God’s strongest soldier, crack and renounce his faith. God believes in Job and allows Satan to do whatever he wants to everyone and everything in Job’s life under one condition, he can’t touch Job himself. Job loses everything, is driven to absolute madness — but he stays the course. In the end God wins and restores everything that Job lost tenfold. America, greed, humanity, man’s depravity, faith…all his major themes are present in Killers. Faith is maybe the most interesting one as Catholicism is not the only one present. Some of the most striking moments are visual interpretations of death through the eyes of the Osage.
So much care went into this film, it’s obvious right away — the man himself thanks the Osage for their help on Killers in a video that plays before it starts. It’s careful, tactful, smart. It may not be the Osage perspective but it is as respectful and considered as a film can possibly be directed by an outsider.
There are so many wonderful faces and voices on screen. Weathered, lived…sometimes just plain ugly.
80 years old, 26 movies….his own history with films and Hollywood, his life experiences, his experience with others (including the late Robbie Robertson of The Band fame, who did an incredible job with the soundtrack)….think of all that LIFE. Consider how much is behind the perspective of a man at his age. Then consider how all of that impacts the decisions that he makes, the way that he collaborates with the thousands that worked on this film….think of all that THEY bring, how much LIFE that is. Then think of the people that desperately want to be able to make a movie by solely hitting a button on a computer. Set aside the fact that LLMs just synthesize existing material……..just from a philosophical standpoint:
What a sad way to think about the world. To desire to “””””create””””” absent experience, absent life itself , absent other people, absent weather and animals and wool and the dyes used to provide color to costumes, absent memories, absent pain and heartbreak and loss and greed and unfathomable cruelty and love and triumph. Hit Button Make Art.
Nah.
Martin Scorsese, still the king, still going. Still making art that matters. Killers of the Flower Moon. Go see it. It’s a masterpiece. You may not love it, you may not even like it, but it is great and well worth engaging with. I’m so thankful it exists. If this is the last one we get from Marty, it’s a buzzer beater game winner. I’m hoping for Overtime.
