Killers of the Flower Moon: 2023 American Epic Western Crime Drama

Killers of the Flower Moon: Movie Name
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone
Genre: Crime, Drama, History
Release Date: 06 October, 2023
Running Time: 206 Minutes
Rating:
Budget: $200 million

Members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, sparking a major F.B.I. investigation involving J. Edgar Hoover.

Killers of the Flower Moon: Overview

Killers of the Flower Moon is a 2023 American epic Western crime drama film directed and produced by Martin Scorsese, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann. Its plot centers on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, and Brendan Fraser. It marks the sixth feature film collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio and the tenth between Scorsese and De Niro.

Development on the film began in March 2016 when Imperative Entertainment won the film adaptation rights to the book. Scorsese and DiCaprio were attached to the film in 2017, with production initially expected to begin in early 2018. Following several pushbacks and delays in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was scheduled to commence in February 2021 with Apple TV+ confirmed to finance and distribute the film alongside Paramount Pictures. Principal photography ultimately took place in Osage County and Washington County between the spring and fall of 2021. The film is produced by Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions and DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions with its $200 million budget reportedly the largest amount ever spent on a film shot in Oklahoma.

Killers of the Flower Moon premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. It is scheduled to be released in select theaters on October 6 before a wide release in the United States on October 20 by Apple TV+ (under their Apple Original Films label) and Paramount Pictures. Both limited and wide releases will also show the film in IMAX theatres. It is also set for an unspecified streaming release on Apple TV+.

Movie Trailer:

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Killers of the Flower Moon: Movie Review

This film, a Western crime drama co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the investigative non-fiction book of the same name by David Grann, touches upon an often overlooked piece of American history.

It’s early 1920s, the sudden acquisition of untold riches by the discovery of oil on the land belonging to the Osage nation, brings with it predators of the nihilistic kind. White businessmen looking to seize the opportunity make inroads into the community by marrying into the tribe.

William King Hale (Robert De Niro) is one of the business leaders who is wily enough to stay friendly to both communities while stealing the Osage dry. He, in fact, puts the idea of marrying someone from the Osage tribe to his nephew Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has just returned from a war. And, it’s not too late before the deed is done. Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a young Osage woman, suffering from diabetes and who has strong ties to her family’s riches, becomes patsy in the hands of these schemers. As the white occupation of native land increases, members of the Osage tribe and especially Mollie’s family members, suffer mysterious deaths.

It’s a good thing that Martin Scorsese has focused his fast-depleting energies (he is 70 plus after all) to documenting a part of forgotten history for future generations. Never mind that it is in fictional form. This movie provides a polished, eye-opening look at America’s treatment of ethnic/indigenous populations.

Scorsese is in his element here, exercising meticulous control over the sway of the story. This film is framed in epic format and is focused on exposing the dark side of human nature. Seeing the Osage, a harmonious tribe, falling prey to the white man’s greed is heartbreaking. Their happy existence gets compromised and they are subjected to frequent discrimination, both verbal and physical. The ethical ramifications and the complexities that arise out of greed merging with love and creating a dichotomy within the heart and mind of Ernest, makes for an absorbing and illuminating watch.

All of Scorsese’s visual trademarks — immersive cinematography, creative framing of characters and brilliantly illuminated perspective defining interactions, make the narrative interesting. The only area he deliberately has toned down is in depicting violence. Here, the violence is very much in thought and only some of it spills out on screen.

Performances are uniformly of a high order. De Niro is brilliant as the scheming Hale, DiCaprio manages to immerse himself completely while fleshing out Ernest beautifully and Lily Gladstone commands attention through her emphatic rendering of Mollie.

Scorcese’s deliberate withholding of pace and allowing for a sedate rhythm to lay siege, makes the viewing difficult, but it’s also highly satisfying. The scale of production, the period setting, the costumes and the deep-dive into theme and plotting asks for a deliberate tempo. With so many characters and facets to explore, it’s no doubt that the film runs 206 minutes long. For those used to Scorcese’s storytelling, this will be compelling viewing but for those not used to it, this experience may become a tad enervating.

Martin Scorsese, one of the greatest directors who made phenomenal movies like Taxi Driver, Wolf of Wall Street and The Departed, may have eased up on his film making style but there’s even at this advanced age he is capable of making a movie that will certainly get the audience in to the theatres!