Already surpassed the long month since its premiere in the United States, The Irishman (7,9 at FilmAffinity) has caused some commotion in the industry thanks to its critics, fans and detractors. Never before since the fall of the Wall had the planet witnessed such a division (dramatization). What for many is the obvious film of the year is branded as boring, flat and too long by others. Although the debate is pertinent (because nobody, not even the almighty Scorsese, can enjoy such shielding against criticism), today in Postposmo we would like to savor what we consider to be the worst scene of The Irish. And also the best. very careful because category spoilers ahead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EThb2OGf8Pw
Let's start with the honey:
best scene of The Irish
Have you guessed it? Surely yes. The long-anticipated death of Jimmy Hoffa comes in a stark and surprising way. Only someone as experienced as Martin Scorsese is capable of ZAP! warn us that it is going to rain and still make the rain catch us off guard.
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in 'The Irishman' (2019), by Martin Scorsese
As soon as Hoffa, alerted by his sixth sense, decides to set foot in the dusty home that will be his grave seconds later, Frank Sheeran strikes twice whose dryness only contributes to the internal resonation (until the end of the film) of Hoffa's humiliating little cry of pain. The little scream will haunt us every time Sheeran, devastated by the betrayal he committed, recalls the moment he put work before friendship. Every time Sheeran, in the final third of his life, regretfully evaluates the nature of acts that, after all, ended up depositing him in an asylum, like almost every neighbor's son. The thunderous echo of that little scream.
Brief note: is Sheeran really sorry or does his gesture only correspond to the bitterness of one who is forced to do his duty? Subtle bits of Martin Scorsese quality.
Click on this link to see the scene.
En Casino 1995, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) he is also caught by surprise with, again, a little scream that reformulated the rules and limits of the narrator in voiceover. Let us remember the originality with which Pesci himself unknowingly bids farewell to the spectator in a stylistic exercise of storytelling unique (not to mention the shock of seeing the dying Santoro buried alive after being forced to witness his brother's execution). Terrifying:
Martin Scorsese repeats himself, but I wish all repetitions were like this. these two scenes irremediably refer to the no less shocking execution of Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci again) on One of ours (1990). The poor thing thought he was about to be accepted into the top leadership of the Sicilian mafia:
worst scene of The Irish
The debate about the convenience or not (as well as the abuse) of computerized rejuvenation techniques in The Irish is on the street. As much as the CGI softens the features and enhances the blue of the eyes, The computer has not yet arrived that will make us forget that Robert De Niro is 76 years old.
The scene of the beating that Frank Sheeran inflicts on the baker in pursuit of defending his daughter's honor is, from beginning to end, incredible. And not in a good way. Due to the physiognomy of his body and the obtuse and limping way of handling himself, Frank Sheeran executing a man much younger than him supposes an intolerable break from immersion in The Irish. A commercial break pressing catch WWE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB8Hb2NwEis
criticism of The Irish
It is not strange that this scene is still today one of the most commented aspects of the official thread of The Irish en Reddit, where we can read comments like "It's such a bad scene that I don't understand why no one on the production team thought it would be a good idea", or "It's not believable that De Niro is a bully. He is a terrible casting mistake«. For its part, on YouTube, the comment with the most positive ratings reads as follows:
“This part made me laugh so hard I had to take the movie off. The guy could barely stand when he's kicking. I guess no one had the guts to tell these guys they're no longer believable playing thugs."
There is a wide sector of criticism that these weeks has extrapolated the question to include in it the director of The Irish. Has Martin Scorsese gotten away with this three and a half hour caper because of who he is? The odyssey involved in filming and theatrical releases of the film have enjoyed sufficient publicity. And, in any case, the victim of the mischief of 160 million would have been Netflix. It seems clear that The Irish It hasn't ended up being the icing on the cake to the gangster trilogy that everyone had in mind.
And it is in things like this, ultimately, where the beauty of art and culture lies: in the disparity of criteria.