It's worth paying attention when a new Martin Scorsese movie is described as his masterpiece. But to be honest, how many masterpieces can one filmmaker deliver? Scorsese already has the likes of Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas under his belt, and it sounds like we can add his new project Killers of the Flower Moon to that formidable list.
The movie is adapted from David Grunn's exhaustive and compelling account of the early-20th-century Osage Nation murders in Oklahoma. The Nation had been siphoned onto narrow parcels of land by the US government, only to find they had alighted on the most oil-rich area in the entire United States. Before long, the Osage were able to exploit their discovery for financial gain and became incredibly rich. Then individuals started dying in mysterious circumstances, prompting an intervention from the then-nascent Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Critics say that Scorsese has refashioned Grunn's testimonial as a melancholic and shocking epic of greed and hubris that plunges right to the heart of the North American identity. The cast is more than prestigious enough to do the tale justice: Scorsese muses Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro lead the way with impressive newcomer Lily Gladstone fronting a raft of supporting players including Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser and John Lithgow.
Fans of immaculate, thought-provoking, auteur-driven cinema don't want to miss this when it's released theatrically on October 20th. Watch the new trailer and get a sense of what you're in for.
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