I should start by restating the obvious -- Martin Scorsese is among the three greatest living filmmakers, and among the top ten ever.
It's no surprise that this film was fantastic, and deep, and tense, and dealt with universal problems.
This is a film full of bold moves. Every bold move is gonna either be a big hit or a miss. This film is mostly made of big hits.
The murder of so many of the Osage people is well documented, while still largely being swept into the dustbin of history.
Scorsese handles the subject with the grace and maturity that one would expect from him.
There's neither a white savior nor a noble savage.
Everyone is human. Everyone lives somewhere on the moral spectrum.
I would have expected a younger, lesser filmmaker to omit the Osage man who took his oil money and became an aggressive drunk to toe a certain line. Scorsese has the maturity to treat all people like people, and tell the truth.
Surely, given my past, if I were suddenly gifted millions or billions of dollars, I can't say that I wouldn't down myself in good scotch.
This film is particularly long.
It's thirty minutes longer than Oppenheimer.
This time, I felt the run time.
The last hour was unevenly paced. That's not to say that it lacked compelling and important story elements. It's just to say that it didn't set and keep the pace.
While I'm pointing out the few very small flaws in the film, it has to be noted that, despite their strong performances, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were decades too old for their respective parts.
The glowing positive of the cast was Lily Gladstone, who stole just about every scene she was in, especially in her subtle moments.
This is a great film. It's a film that should be seen in theaters.