Killers of the Flower Moon
Killers
of the Flower Moon is a fascinating true crime story directed
by master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, The
Departed) and based on David Grann's 2017 book of the same name. The story
takes place in Osage County, Oklahoma during the 1920s, where the Osage Native
American tribe discover oil on their land and become wealthy. It's clear that
the whites in town want a chunk of this money. Soon, tribal members start
turning up dead under suspicious circumstances.
Leonardo
DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a soldier returning from World War I to work
for his businessman uncle William King Hale (Robert De Niro). Ernest becomes a
driver for Mollie (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman from a rich family, and the
two fall in love. Hale encourages marriage because if anything would happen to
Mollie or her sisters, the money would funnel to his side—the white side—of the
family.
I
often complain about movies being overlong and that's usually because they
don't have enough story or characterizations to warrant a running time of over
two hours. Killers of the Flower Moon runs three and a half hours and it
feels right. The film never lags because the story is gripping and the
characters are interesting.
The
performances are all phenomenal. Ernest is not the brightest bulb in the pack
and DiCaprio plays him as a guy who knows he is dumb but trying to pretend he
isn't. De Niro is the head villain of the piece and he plays the character
chillingly as a jovial grandpa. And Gladstone's performance gives off that her
character is smart and has an idea of what is going on, but doesn't want to
believe it.
The
great music score here is by the late Robbie Robertson, a founding member of
The Band and frequent collaborator with Scorsese. Robertson passed away just
two months ago and the film is dedicated to him.
Killers of the Flower Moon is, at times, unsettling, tragic, suspenseful, and emotional. It is one of the year's best films.
