Dir. Martin Scorsese. 209 minutes.
Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (Robert De Niro) is a man of few words. As a mob hitman and bodyguard to union boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), Sheeran has an insider’s perspective on the brutality and double-dealing that shaped America throughout the 20th century.
To portray a story stretching from the 1940s to the 2000s, Martin Scorsese used digital de-aging techniques to artificially shift De Niro and other actors from youth to senility. Most scenes in “The Irishman” feature at least one character whose face has been almost totally digitally replaced. Of course, computer-generated imagery can be used without dispelling a film’s enchantment: few would notice, much less object to, the computer-generated hills and mountains seen throughout “Mad Max: Fury Road,” or the computer-generated blood seeping from Daniel Craig’s wounds in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” However, being carried through an otherwise intimate and gritty drama like “The Irishman” by characters with artificial faces produces many jarring moments. Even in some wide shots, De Niro’s digital face leaps out of the frame.
No one complains about Scorsese’s abundant continuity errors and other technical imperfections because the reality he constructs for us is so immediate and so vivid, full of humor that makes us grin and cruelty that makes us wince. There are few directors whose work tends to be less compatible with “Avengers”-style digital shenanigans. Watching “The Irishman” is a bit like eating a meal laced with sand. Probably, minus the sand, it would have been an excellent meal, but it’s difficult to know for sure.
2.5/5
