Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” has been the talk of the Cannes Film Festival. The three-and-a-half-hour western crime saga, adapted from David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction bestseller by Scorsese and Eric Roth, was screened ahead of its festival premiere in New York and Los Angeles to give critics a head start on writing their reviews. While the film is sumptuously produced and transports the viewer to ’20s Oklahoma, where vast oil fields have brought immense wealth to the Osage Nation, it has received mixed reactions from critics.
Apple chose not to play the film in competition, likely due to its polarizing reviews. The $200-million production is a three-hander centered on Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, who play uncle and nephew, respectively, and Native American actress Lily Gladstone as Ernest Burkhart’s wise and suspicious Osage wife, Mollie Kyle. The film tells the story of the Reign of Terror that led to dozens of mysterious Osage deaths.
De Niro is formidable in his supporting role as William “King” Hale, the charming and relentless master manipulator behind the murders. He persuades his slow-witted World War I veteran nephew to marry Kyle and hire minions to carry out the murders of her two sisters, among others, in order to eventually score her family’s headrights.
Two hours into the slow-paced epic, Texas Ranger hero turned FBI agent for J. Edgar Hoover, Thomas Bruce White (Jesse Plemons), arrives on the scene with a cadre of agents who swiftly piece the sordid murder plot together and proceed to trial. While Roth’s original script played out like a police procedural as White solves the intricacies of the crime, Roth pivoted to give the Osage more gravitas in the narrative.
DiCaprio found the role of Ernest Burkhart, a man who loves a woman while ordering the murder of her family, more complex and fascinating than the FBI man, who could play like a white saviour. If Plemons therefore does not carry enough screen time to warrant Oscar consideration, DiCaprio is scoring kudos for his layered performance as a blind follower who does what he is told, even if it means poisoning someone he cares for deeply.
Gladstone steals the show. An actress who was on the verge of giving up her profession, she holds the screen against two powerful movie stars. In one compelling scene, as Burkhart is clumsily wooing her, a thunderstorm descends on the house. He wants to keep talking. Kyle tells him to be quiet and listen to the storm.
Scorsese, who could certainly have trimmed the length of his western gangster story, should nonetheless wind up in Oscar contention for the 15th time. He has been nominated 14 times, nine for Best Director, two writing nods shared with Jay Cocks, and three Best Picture nominations. He and his Oscar-winning co-screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) could also land an Adapted Screenplay slot.
Much like Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” or Scorsese’s own “The Irishman,” which scored ten Oscar nominations, Oscar voters will surely wind up singing “Killer Moon”‘s extraordinary crafts: thrice-nominated cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (“The Irishman,” “The Silence,” “Brokeback Mountain”), three-time winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (Scorsese’s “The Departed,” “The Aviator,” and “Raging Bull”), two-time nominee production designer Jack Fisk (“The Revenant,” “There Will Be Blood”), four-time nominee costume designer Jacqueline West (“Dune,” “The Revenant,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Quills”), and never-nominated composer Robbie Robertson (Scorsese’s documentary “The Last Waltz”), whose mother was Cayuga and Mohawk.
While the Apple Studios production will see an October theatrical release by Paramount Pictures before it goes online, many Academy voters will wind up watching it on the screening portal, which is far from an ideal viewing experience for this immersive epic.