Plot Summary – In the 1920s, members of the Osage Native American tribe of Osage County, Oklahoma, are murdered after oil is found on their land, and the FBI decides to investigate.

★★★★★ 

Watched 21 Oct 2023

2023 is the year of directors taking big Ws. I don’t think there’s been a movie from a director that took a big shot this year that hasn’t delivered. Martin Scorcese has made another masterpiece to add to what is already the most impressive filmography of all time. For something to be three and a half hours long and to keep you engaged throughout is a feat on its own, but the film does not merely engage you, it keeps you on your toes. Every next scene is unexpected and while the overall themes are pretty consistent throughout the runtime, it’s the systemic decay of power that makes the movie so interesting to watch. It may be framed as a “whodunnit”, but the “who” is pretty obvious from the first ten to fifteen minutes. It’s “how” that makes it so interesting. The fact that the events happened the way they did and for a long time there was no intervention and why that is, is what made this such an interesting film.

The plot alone would not have carried this film though. Every single person working on this film is doing so at the absolute peak of their powers. Robert de Niro gives his best performance this century. Leo and Lily Gladstone are powerhouses in this film. Individually, they both might be contenders for the best performance that the twenty-first century has seen, but as a duo of combatting interesting, feelings and dynamics – they are simply the best on-screen pairing I have seen in a film in my memory. This trifecta of wonderful performances is complemented by a host of amazing actors who all do their part in bringing to life this world of a hundred years ago. The late legendary Robbie Robertson crafts one of the best film scores I’ve ever heard and in so many scenes of quiet and calm, brings unease and tension just through the music. I can’t believe that the cinematographer of Barbie also made this but that’s just a testament to Rodrigo Prieto’s immense talent. He helms some shots so beautifully that you don’t know where to focus because the background is almost as rich as the foreground.

Scorcese does something totally unique here where he starts it like a lot of his films but it slowly turns into something else and by the end, I was shocked at the direction he took. Not because it was not entertaining, but because of how unlike himself it was and to see a director evolving on their twenty-sixth feature film was absolutely refreshing to see. He manages to fit a historical epic, a crime drama, a love story, a gangster film and a court drama all in the same movie and it still didn’t feel overdone or convoluted. I have nothing but praise for this film and to watch it with a group of non-cinephiles who enjoyed it almost as much as I did really validated my opinion. This is easily one of my favorite films of the year and I can’t wait for more people to see it and to discuss it with them!