'Killers of the Flower Moon' gets rapturous reception at Cannes: 'Top tier Martin Scorsese'

Staff and wire reports
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CANNES, France − Martin Scorsese unveiled "Killers of the Flower Moon" to glowing reviews Saturday at Cannes Film Festival, earning widespread praise for his sweeping American epic about greed and exploitation on the bloody plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma.

Scorsese's latest − starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro in well-regarded performances − is one of his most ambitious. The adaptation of David Grann's nonfiction bestseller stretches nearly three and a half hours and cost Apple $200 million to make.

The film, which is expected to open Oct. 6 in theaters, has received 96% "fresh" reviews on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. It drew a lengthy standing ovation and repeated cheers for Scorsese, 80, premiering his first film at Cannes since 1985's "After Hours."

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"We shot this a couple of years ago in Oklahoma. It's taken its time to come around but Apple did so great by us," said Scorsese, addressing the crowd after the screening. "There was lots of grass. I'm a New Yorker."

The red carpet drew a wide spectrum of stars, including Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Paul Dano and Isabelle Huppert.

Scorsese centers his story on Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese), a World War I veteran who falls for a woman named Mollie (Gladstone), the member of a wealthy Osage family.

Since finding oil reserves on their land, the Osage are the richest people per capita in the country. But that wealth is closely controlled by appointed white guardians. A series of murders prompts increased panic among the Osage, who are preyed on by a host of greedy killers, and "Flower Moon" captures their manipulation through the dynamics in Ernest and Mollie's relationship.

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Lily Gladstone, left, and Leonard DiCaprio star as a married couple affected by a string of tribal murders in the historical mystery drama "Killers of the Flower Moon."
Lily Gladstone, left, and Leonard DiCaprio star as a married couple affected by a string of tribal murders in the historical mystery drama "Killers of the Flower Moon."

"WOW. A harrowing story that is difficult to watch given the subject matter, but you can’t help but marvel at the mastery on screen," wrote Ema Sasic of Next Best Picture. "Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro are absolutely incredible. Among top tier Martin Scorsese."

New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis called the film "shocking, at times crushingly sorrowful, a true-crime mystery that in its bone-chilling details can make it feel closer to a horror movie."

"Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of his life," wrote IndieWire film critic David Ehrlich, who praised the film as "a frequently great Scorsese epic that misses the mythic sweep of the book but succeeds instead as a toxic love story."

Manori Ravindran, Variety international executive editor and senior writer, called it the rare movie that "has any business being over three hours long." (Though Variety critic Peter Debruge disagreed, remarking, “ 'Killers of the Flower Moon' isn’t an epic motion picture so much as a miniseries.")

"Deeply compelling subject matter and a visual delight," Ravindran wrote. "Finally, a Cannes breakout star in Lily Gladstone, and De Niro and DiCaprio's chemistry is off the charts."

Contributing: Jake Coyle, The Associated Press, and Kim Willis, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' gets rave reviews at Cannes: 'Top tier'