Looking back, it must have been the trailer that caught my attention - one of those skilful trailers that intrigue but don't show everything at once - and I purposely avoided reading anything about it beforehand, because wanted to approach it as tabula rasa with clear mind and without prejudices. If I did read about it, I would know about the film's immense running time (3 and a half hours) and controversies about it - when friend informed me about the length of the movie, I just wanted to die. Suddenly I remember, yes, Martin Scorsese of course, the guy whose recent "The Irishman" I refused to attend for this very same reason. Why I didn't think about it? This is what happens when you refuse to know anything about the movie. Well, it was too late - tickets bought anyway, so we went to cinema feeling like we are going to the gallows - I declined any food & drink, taking care of my capricious bladder and expecting long & silent suffering. It was anything but suffering!
First of all, let me admit that usually I have a solid nap during the first 30 minutes in the cinema - it is what it is, probably because I feel so warm & cozy & comfortable, this is who I am and I actually don't have problem with it. Later I wake up and catch up with the movie. But this was the first time in ages that I didn't had a nap - in fact, the story was so interesting that it kept me watching (the audience was also totally mesmerised) and I was planning to whisper to my comrade "This is actually not bad at all" but we were both too busy to talk. I can't say that nobody noticed the length of the movie because it was not true - but it faltered only in the last 30 minutes, when we all start feeling a bit exhausted and just wanted it to finish. No break, of course.
It is not my intention to discuss too much of the plot or to give away the story itself - its happening in the early 1920s (judging by the original scratchy 1921 recording of Mamie Smith whose "Crazy Blues" I am familiar with) when Osage Native Indians find themselves suddenly wealthy from the oil and the subtle, sinister ways whites were abusing them, all the way pretending to be their protectors. I must say that everything, from the script, original music and acting was top notch - and I don't even like Leonardo DiCaprio (I always felt he was product of the publicity industry) but here he was genuinely good, playing a simpleton who was manipulated by his uncle, crime lord Robert De Niro in one of his best roles ever. There is also a wonderful Native Indian actress Lily Gladstone as real-life Mollie Kyle (because this was based on a real-life story) and now unrecognisable Brendan Fraser as a nasty attorney corrupted by baddies. It is almost a pity that the controversy over its length might overshadow how good the movie actually is, Scorsese could honestly just edit it better, shorten the damn thing and make it more watchable. The way it is, I am sure that lot of people react the same as me and refuse to be pinned down in cinema for such a long time.
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