Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a sprawling American epic about avarice and exploitation on the gory plains of an Osage Nation reservation in 1920s Oklahoma, premiered on Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews.
Scorsese’s latest, including highly appreciated turns from Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro, is one of his most audacious efforts. Apple spent $200 million adapting David Grann’s nonfiction blockbuster, which runs over three and a half hours long.
The film has gotten 96% “fresh” reviews on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its wide release on October 6th. Scorsese, 80, received a long-standing ovation and repeated cheers for the premiere of his first picture in Cannes since 1985’s “After Hours.”
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Attending the premiere of “Killers of the Flower Moon” at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival in France is Leonardo DiCaprio.
This was filmed a few years ago in Oklahoma. It took a while, but Apple really came through for us in the end, Scorsese told the audience after the screening. The grass was very plentiful. I was born and raised here in the Big Apple.
Stars as diverse as Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek, Paul Dano, and Isabelle Huppert walked the red carpet. An Osage woman named Mollie (Gladstone) falls in love with a World War I veteran named Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio; their eighth time working with them).
The Osage are the country’s wealthiest population per capita thanks to the discovery of oil on their land. However, white guardians have tight control over that money. “Flower Moon” illustrates Osage’s manipulation through the dynamics of Ernest and Mollie’s relationship after a string of killings causes widespread panic among the tribe.
At the 2023 CinemaCon, Martin Scorsese will show the first trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon and have a conversation with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Historical mystery film “Killers of the Flower Moon” stars Lily Gladstone (left) and Leonard DiCaprio (right) as a married pair impacted by a series of tribal murders.
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“WOW. Ema Sasic, reviewing Next Best Picture, called it “a harrowing story that is difficult to watch given the subject matter, but you can’t help but marvel at the mastery on screen.” Incredible actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro. A top-tier director likes Martin Scorsese.
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON…WOW. A harrowing story that is difficult to watch given the subject matter, but you can’t help but marvel at the mastery on screen. Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro are absolutely incredible. Among top tier Martin Scorsese pic.twitter.com/MCRkzfK9rG
— Ema Sasic (@ema_sasic) May 20, 2023
Film writer Manohla Dargis of the New York Times described the film as “shocking, at times crushingly sorrowful, a true-crime mystery that in its bone-chilling details can make it feel closer to a horror movie.”
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“Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of his life,” said film critic David Ehrlich of IndieWire, who also called the film “a frequently great Scorsese epic that misses the mythic sweep of the book but succeeds instead as a toxic love story.”
Killers of the Flower Moon: Leonardo DiCaprio gives the best performance of his life in a frequently great Scorsese epic that misses the mythic sweep of the book but succeeds instead as a toxic love story.
my #Cannes2023 review: https://t.co/6gj2girkpo pic.twitter.com/0gg2LRJumB
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) May 20, 2023
International executive editor and senior writer for Variety, Manori Ravindran, said the film “has any business being over three hours long.” (Though Variety critic Peter Debruge disagreed, saying, ” ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ isn’t an epic motion picture so much as a miniseries.”)
“Deeply compelling subject matter and a visual delight,” Ravindran said. “De Niro and DiCaprio’s chemistry is off the charts,” the critics said, and “Finally, a Cannes breakout star in Lily Gladstone.”
