Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Killers of the Flower Moon (aka Gray Horse) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Martin Scorsese approaches the historical drama of the Osage County murders with the same craft he’s brought to his crime pictures. The veteran director has perfected stories of greedy men destroying themselves amid their lust for power. From that angle, Killers of the Flower Moon's adaptation is potent, loaded with exceptional performances, crisp editing, and fantastic cinematography. It’s a film that feels grand yet never loses sight of the central investigation of murders. In other words, it’s exactly the thoughtful and cathartic film one would expect from Scorsese.

The film mostly follows the conflicted career and marriage of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man who has just returned to Oklahoma after World War 1 and is seeking to settle down amid the estate of his uncle, Will Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale is referred to in the community as King for having a certain political dominance over a region that is mostly populated by the wealthy Osage tribe. He’s figured the best way to attain all their wealth is to orchestrate schemes of marrying and murder. He can push Ernest into marrying Molly (Lily Gladstone), a member of the Osage tribe, a big and wealthy family. Ernest is inclined to go along with this plot partly because of the riches to extort and his love for her. That said, his chance at going native will arrive far too late, considering how far he continues to go along with his uncle’s idea to pick off the rest of Molly’s family to steal everything they own.

The criminal story that unfolds proceeds rather quickly through the series of murders amid the lush location. That said, there’s plenty of time to establish the details of this small town, ranging in everything from the cultural concerns of the Osage tribe to the excitement of a motorcar race through the town streets. You really get to see so much of how the town thrives that there’s a gut punch when the bodies start mounting. The violence is always present, as in the opening series of murders that breeze through with no investigation, including one brutal shooting right before a baby. It all proceeds with a level of thoughtfulness, especially with Scorsese’s trademark framing of how children witness the rise and fall of their parents, taking in all the horrors that come with this chaotic life.

The performances all around are great, and there are plenty of highlights further into the film from Jesse Plemmons as an FBI agent, Brendan Fraser as Hale’s attorney, and perhaps the best cameo Scorsese has ever made in his own movies. DiCaprio does well, but De Niro eats up his role well as the vile conspirator who meshes far enough into the Osage community that there’s an uneasiness any time he’s present. But the real star is Lily Gladstone, even if her screentime is significantly less. From her first scene of sly awareness to her last moment of warranted paranoia amid her sickness, Gladstone has a fantastic range in this film for a woman who becomes completely disillusioned with her community.

There’s a lot to love about Killers of the Flower Moon that it’s hard to pick just one thing that makes it great. It’s a great-looking film with a fantastic cast, where even the most unlikely actors get to shine bright, as with Tatanka Means playing an undercover agent and Tantoo Cardinal playing Molly’s mom. There are aspects of Osage culture explored in how the tribe approaches the shifting winds of the era and the idea of approaching death. There’s brilliant dread evoked in scenes where Ernest accepts the hell he’s assembled for his wife as the fields burn for insurance fraud. The film's finale is so perfectly pitched for highlighting how easy it is to forget about how this was a true story that exists beyond being another true-crime tale to obsess over for a few podcast episodes. This film’s power feels real, and it’s astounding that Scorsese still hasn’t lost his edge after all these years.