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This review was originally published on May 20, 2023 out of the Cannes Film Festival.
On January 23, 2024,Killers of the Flower Moonwasnominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.
After you read the review, check outour profile of Lily Gladstone.
The early scenes of Martin ScorsesesKillers of the Flower Moonare a symphony of pointed dissonance.
For all its extravagant run time (three hours and 26 minutes!
And a twisted, tragic one at that.
(You like women?
Dont matter to me.
Hale and the people around him have taken advantage of the restrictive laws governing Native American wealth.
The first half of Granns book is structured as something of a mystery.
Ernest doesnt have a spine, or even much of an identity.
DiCaprio is a fine actor, but he needs space to maneuver.
Hes at his best when he can go big.
Here, his character shrinks the more hes onscreen, and the actor sometimes feels lost.
Its a return to the quiet menace of some of his classic characters.
In so many ways, though, this is Lily Gladstones movie.
She plays Mollie with a mix of standoffishness and exhausted hope.
She can tell early on that Ernest is out for her money.
So is every white man around her.
But she comes to see charm and slivers of decency in him, too.
Ernest is … well, hes earnest.
When he tells Mollie he loves her, she believes him.
And so do we.
It also perhaps explains Scorseses decision in the later scenes to go in a heartbreakingly intimate direction.
Maybe thats also why the story never really achieves closure or anything resembling redemption.
It feels like an open wound right up to the end.
