By IZUMI HASEGAWA, Hollywood News Wire Inc.
Master director Martin Scorsese’s new film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” has a running time of 3 hours, 26 minutes. It’s a long film, which is typical for blockbusters aiming for an Academy Award, but was it really necessary to make it that long?
2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” is 3 hours, and 2002’s “Gangs of New York” is 2 hours, 47 minutes. However, those two do not have much the same sagging feeling. I was overwhelmed by the power shown from the screen, thinking, “As expected of Scorsese.”
2019’s “The Irishman”is 3 hours, 29 minutes and felt “sagging.” Halfway through watching it, an idea occurred to me, “Was this a TV series turned into a movie?” I felt disappointed, thinking, “The movie was probably made with streaming in mind, because it was distributed by Netflix.”
After serving in World War I, Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) moves to Oklahoma, where the Native American Osage tribe lives a rich life based on oil, and marries Molly (Lily Gladstone), a local woman who owns oil interests. On the outside, he acts like a good husband and a good person, but behind the scenes he commits despicable acts.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” is a work that highlights the dark side of American society and depicts the tragedy suffered by the Osage tribe. I was very happy that a big name in Hollywood brought up a crime that was little-known until now.
However, after watching the movie, I felt that despite its length, it didn’t fully depict the story. It was like a digest version of a TV series. The idea of people developing the feeling they would disregard the lives of others for their own benefit was not explored in depth.
When a white man at the top of the racial hierarchy depicts the tragedy suffered by minorities, it is not easy to express the emotional wounds of minorities, because he has never experienced discrimination. Merely narrating the events in the film may provide some vicarious experiences, but does not convey the person’s feelings.
This work by Scorsese was wonderful both in subject matter and visuals. However, I feel the emotional depiction of the main characters was completely lacking. Therefore, it gave the impression of being way too long.
The passionate performances of Robert De Niro and DiCaprio, who are great actors and allies of Scorsese, were palpable. DiCaprio’s impersonation of Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” may have been inspired by what happened when Brando won an Oscar, but it didn’t quite sit right.
In this work, the characters’ personalities and emotions were exuded on screen by the supporting Native American actors. The performance by Gladstone — who will likely be the first Native American to win an acting Oscar — as the heroine Molly was particularly outstanding. She is the actress who will make history in this year’s film award race.
I hope that this is not the only benefit that this work brings. I hope people who learn about America’s dark history through this film will decide not to repeat it.
Translated by Jerry Jorgenson
