Assassinos da Lua das Flores

Mais um retro de Scorsese encenado perfeitamente com anti-heróis, podres de corrupção e mentirosos até ao âmago. E a tragédia das vítimas, filmada com a tradicional distância emocional. Pois exceto a personagem principal, uma mulher indiana, cuja destruição não se resume a uma cena de alguns segundos de tiro na cabeça. É preciso gostar do estilo narrativo intenso do Marty. Eu sempre tive um problema com ele. Robert De Niro desfruta imenso de mais um padrinho manipulador, desta vez com cara de bom tio. DiCaprio varia divertidamente todos os seus trademarks num idiota confuso com a boca negativamente curvada. E Brendan Fraser brilha num papel muito pequeno. A atuação minimalista torna Lily Gladstone, com um olhar intenso, frágil, resignada e confiante. A duração brutal apoia a complexidade absoluta do enredo deste filme de proporções épicas, mas também aumenta o número de personagens e de acontecimentos à sua volta, nos quais eu já estava um pouco perdido no resumo final. A narrativa ritmicamente monótona, mas, graças à música constantemente pulsante, viva e sinistramente graduada, sobre a injustiça assustadora é refrescada pelo aparecimento dos agentes do FBI novatos com a sua metódica profissional. Os malucos criminosos da época não estavam habituados a tais táticas legais. Uma agradável surpresa dum papel cameo no epílogo festivo. Festivo quer dizer a caminho das nomeações para os Óscares. [Cannes FF] (21/05/2023)

Uma elegia monumental e magistralmente escrita, interpretada e dirigida à decadência da sociedade, que mergulha lentamente e de forma impactante na escuridão da controversa história americana, com foco na essência do mal na história dos crimes cometidos contra a população indígena em nome do desejo pelo poder e riqueza. Um grande filme com um significativo ressalto, escala épica e retrato dos Estados Unidos meticulosamente construído na mistura do filme de gangster e do western, géneros americanos convenientemente fundamentados na tematização do comportamento imoral. (04/01/2024)

Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth have taken a muddled, mediocre book and turned it into a great American novel in film form. Killers of the Flower Moon is a monumental, multi-voiced and timeless chronicle of the fall of a community whose lust for wealth is stronger than love, even though its members are aware that they are preparing the next generation for the future through their own behaviour. The film is dark and slow and feels longer than The Irishman, for example, but that length is justified, as it makes it possible for us to gradually get into that community and see at first hand how greed and cynicism gradually and inevitably spread to the country, become entrenched and consume the characters. Throughout the film, we find ourselves in close proximity to a confident and seemingly all-powerful, yet essentially banal and sometimes comically obtuse evil whose proper punishment seems rather unlikely, which is exactly as frustrating and exhausting as Scorsese most likely intended it to be. By comparison, the voice of goodness is weakened by sickness and the “medicine” administered, and it is limited to naming the one who died (which is something of a Scorsese trademark). Despite that – and thanks to the dignity that Lily Gladstone radiates – it has a central, evidentiary role in the narrative. Killers is primarily an indictment of the murderers whose existence should ideally have been erased from American history (because many still profit from their crimes to this day) and an emphatic demand to give back a sense of humanity to those whose lives were reduced to a few thousand dollars decades ago; the director’s closing cameo leaves us in no doubt about this. ___ Scorsese directs his lament with the surehandedness of a master. This time, he economises on the spectacular dolly and Steadicam shots, instead relying on the actors and Thelma Schoonmaker’s feel for rhythm. As a message about the substance of American capitalism, his plunge into the darkness could eventually become an equally essential work as Giant (1956), Once Upon a Time in the West, The Godfather and There Will Be Blood. At the same time, the intense hopelessness and the atmosphere of irreversible decline reminded me of Tárr’s films. No, that won’t come easy in the cinemas for this proof that you can still make your magnum opus in your seventies. 90% (19/10/2023)

The Osage nation has found oil in their territory and became rich. But where there is money, there are people who want to get their hands on it, and they will be going over dead bodies. Martin Scorsese delivers a dense drama about human envy, anger and cruelty that is not entirely audience-friendly and forces you to spend three and a half hours in the company of repulsive people. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro give brilliant performances here, but the slow pace and a narrative that doesn't rush anywhere demand more attention and patience from the audience than usual. Scorsese is uncompromising, so be ready to do your fair share of time with his newest film. And he's certainly not going to make it easy. (16/10/2023)

Here, more than with other films, you realize that even great filmmakers should have a producer's oversight, someone to tell them that such monstrous running time is untenable. Martin Scorsese's seminal works always flirted with three hours, but they had incredible pacing and were watchable in one breath. Here, I was hooked only with the arrival of the investigators and the final catharsis, which was powerful, so it took like two horus for things to get going, and I write this as someone who likes slow films and their gradual introduction to the plot. Nasty things happen, but I felt almost no tension and the bland monotone music didn't help. And someone should tell Leonardo DiCaprio that constantly crabbing his mouth into an inverted U is not a sign of good acting. So aside from the traditionally reliable Robert De Niro, I was only impressed with Lily Gladstone. Her quiet strength, soulful expression and engaging minimalist acting was something to behold. I wouldn't hesitate to call her the heart of the whole film, the one element of goodness in the human filth around her. I'm glad to see that similar artistically ambitious films are still being made in these bastardised, tik-tok times, but I'm afraid Marty won't be expanding his Oscar collection this time around. (19/01/2024)