KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Review

"When all the trees have been cut down, When all the animals have been hunted, When all the waters are polluted, When all the air is unsafe to breathe, Only then will you discover you cannot eat money…"

A story of lies and liars. Of smirks and prayers. Of opportunity and cost. How? Through the resources of nature and writers of history, of course. Scorsese's incisive eye primed for these parameters and all iterations of the American Dream. Here, he fixes the camera on a grave spiral of a man to a yellow hell. On the fine margins between ambition and greed. How, with a certain viewpoint, the black of oil appears carmine. Ultimately, a tragedy of cowards and "Indians".

His main partners in this pursuit Gladstone and Schoonmaker, who work in opposite directions. Gladstone the audience's life raft, a beacon of light amongst hellfire. Her performance a junior moon to every scene and interaction she's in, lifting all tides. After yet another tragedy, she lets out an anguished wail that is one of the few under those cinematic conditions to ever actually work (emotionally, anyway). Schoonmaker a multiplier for the devils. Smash cutting from performative compliment to lonely death, and from the smoke of a bombed out house to a signature at a rodeo. That quickness juxtaposed with patience, as the edit sits with murder until the blood slicks away from innocent body. Ruthless stuff. As ruthless as the story within.

De Niro the great salesman. Dealing death in green clothing, he is a wanton monolith of greed. An American werewolf in Oklahoma. He finds subtle evils in the nonverbals. One in particular on Gladstone's deathbed. After offering encouraging words in her native tongue, he quickly shifts to both his faces in smile and disgust. DiCaprio merely uncle's ball of clay. A simpleton coward of binary motivation, he is nothing if not perfect for De Niro's ploys. Hilarious when needed, subtle always, it's fantastic work regardless. Few can operate in these margins with any audience empathy — especially considering the atrocities committed — but that just speaks to their talent.

The tragedy of that story living behind each scene. Each act of greed and violence. And exclaimed in admission at the end of it all. In a film filled with greatness, that spirit of truth is one of its biggest strengths. Like in a small moment between sisters at church, reasoning a man with family money has enough and only wants love. "Are you real?" Gladstone later screams at anyone near her poisoned eyes. Sadly, they all are.

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The above was taken from my Letterboxd review.