‘The Irishman’ Review: The Mob’s Greatest Hits, in a Somber Key (Published 2019) (2024)

“I’m Martin Scorsese. And I made the movie, ‘The Irishman.’” “It is an honor for me to be here tonight to present this award to my dear friend, Mr. Frank Sheeran.” “We’re talking about a sequence that takes place in the Latin Casino. You have this wonderful reception for Frank Sheeran, who, really, it’s a highlight of his life. All the representatives of the power structure of that part of the country are there to celebrate him, supposedly. And it really is obviously— it’s for the union, it’s for Hoffa, and it’s to support Hoffa over Tony Provenzano. And it’s to show his support for Jimmy, and Jimmy’s support for Frank.” [APPLAUSE] “The highlight of my life. Thank you very— very, very much. And this man, James Riddle Hoffa, is the guy that gets the job done.” “Underlying all that, you have the darker elements, which are the men who are in real control of the situation.” “Any case, from the deepest part of my heart, I thank you all. Because I don’t really deserve all this. But I have bursitis, and I don’t deserve that, either.” “The structure of the scene is all about the looks. The dialogue doesn’t matter until you have this extraordinary moment, I think, between Russell and Frank, where Russell gives Frank this special ring that only three people have. And so for me, the playing of the scene had to be weaving all the sense of a celebration, so to speak, or family gathering, weaving all that around these beats, all strung together by the music: Jerry Vale.” ”(SINGING) Please—” “It has a very melodramatic tragedy to it. You know, a sweetness and a sadness at the same time.” ”(SINGING) Say you and your Spanish eyes—” “It’s like you go to an event, and there are factions. There are factions. And one faction may be polite, but they’re not going to be smiling too much. But they’re there. During that time, certain things are said. Looks are given, which are harder than words. But the main look’s Anna Paquin. A whole sequence revolves around Anna’s— Peggy, that is— picking up of the subtext of what’s going on. There is trouble happening. There are problems. And she knows— I mean, particularly even Anna Paquin said, when she did the dancing shot, and she looks over, and she’s says, I never saw looks like that from people. She said it chilled her as a person.” “Only three people in the world have one of these, and only one of them is Irish. I have one, Angelo has one, and now you have one.” “So really it’s about the balancing and the editing of the frames, which encompass medium shots— hardly any close-ups. Usually medium to medium close-up, like right below the shoulders up. That entails seeing a little more of the body language rather than giant close-ups. The reason for that is the atmosphere and the environment around them has to be present in the frame, because that affects them. And there you see them in that environment and that atmosphere. If it’s too close, I think you objectify it in a way. You push the audience away. But one of the hardest things to do was to get them in the frame in the wide shot, looking down, as Jerry Vale is singing in the background. They’re like the gods overlooking this world that they created in a way. There’s one shot— from their point of view, with a long lens— of Jimmy walking around and suddenly saying hello to Angelo Russo, played by Harvey Keitel. The reason is a personal reason. And that was that Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino were never in the same frame together in any movie.” “Things have gotten that with our friend again. And some people are having serious problems with him. And it’s at a point where you’re going to have to talk to him and tell him it’s what it is.” “Once I settled on the size of the frame and the size of the people in the frame, I know that, then, it was really myself and my editor, Thelma, in the editing room, playing with the dialogue and playing with the looks and the pauses— the pauses and the silences.” “These are the higher-ups.” “Well, he’s a higher-up, too. I mean, there’s no one—” “Not like this. You know that. Oh, come on, Frank. If they can whack a president, they can whack a president of the union. You know it, and I know it.”