Martin Scorcese is a rare breed; a master filmmaker who has produced astonishing, genre defining masterpieces for decades and what’s even more remarkable is that he is still doing it today. From Silence to The Irishman, Scorcese is still knocking it out of the park with a vigour and freshness that defies his age and stage.

 

Killers of the Flower Moon is no exception. A complete and utter triumph, Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorcese’s Western stacked with an all star cast and pulsating with fear and fury. One of 2023’s best films that will haunt you for days. 

 

Based on a true story and David Grann’s best-selling book, Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic western crime saga, told through the improbable romance of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), where real love crosses paths with unspeakable betrayal. At the turn of the 20th century, oil brought a fortune to the Osage Nation, who became some of the richest people in the world overnight. The wealth of these Native Americans immediately attracted white interlopers, who manipulated, extorted, and stole as much Osage money as they could before resorting to murder. 

 

First things first - at three and a half hours long Killers of the Flower Moon feels like it's an hour and a half tops. Not only is this down to the riveting narrative that Scorcese has crafted here, but it is down to the amount of detail that he has packed into every frame. It feels as though you aren’t in an air conditioned movie theatre chomping popcorn but that you’re really there in Osage country, witnessing this first hand.   

 

Scorcese has a cinematic reputation for bloody violence that seemingly floods his movies, generally inflicted by the near constant blaze of gun muzzle flare and lead. Even though brutal violence punches its way into the film, the stunning power of Killers of the Flower Moon lies in the violence of the conspiracy inflicted on the Osage people by De Niro’s Hale. It is gut churningly putrid in all of its colonist sins and will haunt you for days. 

 

Although Leonardo Di Caprio gives his best performance yet, and that really is saying something, disappearing completely into the dastardly but completely manipulated Burkhart and De Niro is at his menacing best without even raising a finger in violence, this film belongs utterly and completely to Lily Gladstone.    

 

In Lily’s Mollie we have the plight of her people personified and Gladstone gives such a centred, riveting performance that will be career defining. Look for her winning every acting gong come awards season. 

 

A complete and utter triumph, Killers of the Flower Moon is Scorcese’s Western stacked with an all star cast and pulsating with fear and fury. One of 2023’s best films that will haunt you for days.