Guillermo del Toro tweets 'masterclass in analysis' about The Irishman — read his beautiful review
Sometimes the most interesting reviews of a work come from fellow artists. That’s become the case with Martin Scorsese‘s new film The Irishman following its premiere at New York Film Festival last week. While lots of film critics have been publishing glowing reviews of the movie (you can read EW’s own B+ review, courtesy of Leah Greenblatt, here), one of Scorsese’s fellow Oscar-winning directors is also celebrating the Netflix release.
Guillermo del Toro, who won multiple Oscars in 2017 (including Best Director) for his star-crossed fantasy romance The Shape of Water, saw The Irishman last week. Despite not being a film critic himself, del Toro often posts thoughts about movies he’s seen and why people should check them out. He surpassed himself on Monday with a 13-tweet thread praising Scorsese’s movie, analyzing its thematic elements, beginning with a comparison to Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon.
“It is about lives that came and went, with all their turmoil, all their drama and violence and noise and loss… and how they invariably fade, like we all do,” del Toro wrote in his first tweet.
Based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses, The Irishman focuses on Frank Sheehan (Robert De Niro), a mob hitman who may have been behind the 1975 disappearance of legendary Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). By the end of the nearly three-and-a-half-hour runtime, Sheehan has aged into an old man with a high body count and more than a few regrets. A sharp awareness of mortality runs through the whole film, from the de-aging technology used on De Niro, Pacino, and Joe Pesci (who plays Philadelphia mob boss Russell Bufalino) to the fact that every minor mob character appears with a caption saying how they eventually died (usually in brutal circumstances).
“It’s the anti-‘My Way’ (played in every gangster wedding in the world),” del Toro wrote in a later tweet, invoking the classic Frank Sinatra song. “Regrets they had more than few. The road cannot be undone and we all face the balance at the end. Even the voiceover recourse has De Niro trailing off into mumbled nonsense.”
2/13 “It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarrelled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now." We will all be betrayed and revealed by time, humbled by our bodies, stripped off our pride.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
4/13 It’s the anti”My Way” (played in every gangster wedding in the world). Regrets they had more than few. The road cannot be undone and we all face the balance at the end. Even the voice over recourse has DeNiro trailing off into mumbled nonsense-
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
6/13 Scorsese started hand-in-hand with Schrader, as young men, looking for Bresson. This movie transmogrified all the gangster myths into regret. You live this movie. It never goes for the sexy of violence. Never for the spectacle. And yet it is spectacularly cinematic.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
8/13 I never thought I would see a film in which I’d root hard for Jimmy Hoffa- but I did- perhaps because, in the end, he, much like the Kennedys, represented also the end of a majestic post-war stature in America.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
10/13 An interesting transfer between these characters: Pesci- who has played the Machiavellian monster, regains a senile innocence, a benign oblivion and De Niro’s character - who hass operated in a moral blank- gains enough awareness - to feel bitter loneliness.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
12/13 This film needs time- however- it has to be processed like a real mourning. It will come up in stages… I believe most of its power will sink in, in time, and provoke a true realization. A masterpiece. The perfect corollary Goodfellas and Casino.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
13/13 See it. In a theatre. This movie languished in development in studio vaults for so long… having it here, now, is a miracle. And, btw- fastest 3 hours in a cinema. Do not miss it.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019
Del Toro wasn’t even the only filmmaker who saw The Irishman last week and had thoughts. Ava DuVernay was at the same screening, and also had a lot of praise for Scorsese’s film.
“Just out of The Irishman. Running time is 3 hours and some change. For me, it flew by,” DuVernay wrote in her own tweet. “And if I could go in and see it again right now, I would in a heartbeat. A film made by a filmmaker who feels free. Who has all the tools. All the time. All the talent. And lives up to it. Wow.”
Just out of THE IRISHMAN. Running time is 3 hours and some change. For me, it flew by. And if I could go in and see it again right now, I would in a heartbeat. A film made by a filmmaker who feels free. Who has all the tools. All the time. All the talent. And lives up to it. Wow. pic.twitter.com/gPsfn4OyS8
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 30, 2019
When you come out of the same screening as @RealGDT on a lovely September night in LA and he gives a masterclass in analysis that feels like he’s both inside your head and whispering new ideas in your ears at the same time. What a thread. #TheIrishman https://t.co/iNHr5nM35P
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 30, 2019
The Irishman will be in limited theatrical release beginning Nov. 1 before coming to Netflix Nov. 27.
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