'Killers of the Flower Moon''s Cannes Debut Met With Praise From All ...

The American West came to the South of France this weekend for the debut of Martin Scorsese’s new epic, The Killers of the Flower Moon. To say that the picture was well-received is an understatement. The Apple Original Films project, which will have a theatrical run care of Paramount in October despite its 206-minute running time (more is more, Marty!), knocked the critics on their croisettes at the Cannes Film Festival, where the movie premiered out-of-competition. 

V.F.’s Richard Lawson wrote that the new project, which stars frequent Scorsese collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, is unlike anything else in the master’s long resume. He added it might be his “most tragic, condemnatory film to date,” which, for the man who made Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street and 2019’s The Irishman is sure saying something. He concluded that the lengthy movie “shocks, resounds, and haunts.” 

The film is based on David Grann’s bestselling nonfiction work of the same name, though the book's title includes the secondary clause The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth ended up shifting the focus of the story considerably, to make it less of a cop story and more about the Osage Nation, whose discovery of oil on their land in Oklahoma at the beginning of the 20th century brought them enormous wealth and, following that, many troubles.

In a series of tweets that have since gone viral, Jim Gray, a former Principal Chief of the Osage Nation and direct descendent of someone depicted in the film, wrote that though he was not at Cannes, he did get a chance to see the movie, and detailed how Scorsese and the production worked with the Osage community. Despite initial “legitimate concerns that the movie industry might miss the point of the story,” he wrote that “the dignity and care for the Osage perspective was genuine and honest throughout the process and the Osage responded with the kind of passion and enthusiasm that met this historic moment.” In short, he wrote that the man behind The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun, My Voyage to Italy, Silence, and the founder of the World Cinema Project came correct. You can read the thread below.

In addition to DiCaprio and De Niro, Flower Moon stars Lily Gladstone, in what is the most high profile role for an American Indian woman in recent memory. In what is likely the first of many celebratory moments over this and next year for the 36-year-old actress, best known for an appearance on Reservation Dogs and co-starring in two Kelly Reichardt films, Gladstone found herself on the receiving end of a standing ovation at the Cannes debut.