• Criticism: The Irish: Scorsese, before his coldest and most balanced masterpiece
  • Martin Scorsese. "We must protect the experience of the movie theater"
  • Opinion Netflix and the Martin Scorsese algorithm

TEN NOMINATIONS

  • Best film
  • Best Director: Martin Scorsese
  • Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci
  • Best Supporting Actor: Al Pacino
  • Best Adapted Screenplay
  • Best photography
  • Better visual effects
  • Best assembly
  • Best art direction
  • Best costume design

When one prepares to see the Irishman, he knows that he will spend three and a half hours of his life and hopes that at least he will be satisfied and worthwhile.

From here begins a long list of spoilers both cinematographic and technical so we hope that at least it is worth reading this text.

The film begins in the halls of a residence where a voiceover transports you to a man in a wheelchair telling a story. The story of a lifetime 'painting walls' .

That narrator, who seems to want to confess, is nothing more and nothing less than Frank Sheeran , played by Robert de Niro, The Irish, the thread of this feature film.

At the beginning, Frank is just a truck driver who transports meat but that overnight passes from transporting it to selling it to local gangsters and from there to be friends with Russel Buffalino (Joe Pesci), one of the greatest bosses of the Italian mafia in the United States.

In this story of mafia "friendships" Frank's evolution is appreciated over these three and a half hours. The Irishman goes from being Russel's hitman, executing anyone who gets in Russ's way without shaking his pulse, to becoming the right hand of Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), the truck leader of the truckers. Although throughout the film there seems to be great loyalty between this 'little family' in the end everything revolves around the interests of the mafia, the "if you pay it" and the disappearance and death of Hoffa.

Based on real events

This story, quite true to reality, is based on the book that Charles Brandt writes about this gangster. In its pages, the author reviews the life and work of Frank Sheeran, who confesses to being the man who killed the unionist.

Brand served as prosecutor and defense attorney in more than 50 murder cases and is an expert in interrogation techniques. Getting Sheeran's confession cost him a five-hour meal with him , but the Irishman did not want any of that to come to light for fear of the repercussions this could have.

Brand participated in the basis of the writing of the film's script and highlights Scorsese's mastery and Robert de Niro's ability to blend in with the character.

The magic of digital surgery

At the time of filming the movie, the team faced a big problem: the passage of time. How to make the actors look 30 years younger without resorting to other actors.

Scorsese decided to use the special effects to rejuvenate and age his characters.

Still this work shot the budget of the film, so the big studios decided to refuse filming. But Netflix came to the rescue: the streaming platform injected more than 100 million euros making The Irish the most expensive film on the platform.

During the filming, the visual effects supervisor designed a system of three cameras: one of them recorded the scene as it was developed and the other two filmed infrared images to record the depth of the actors' faces.

In postproduction they used a program that took two years to develop. This program called Flux , creates a mask around the face of each actor so you can work on it.

Thus the postproduction team together with this program and a wide catalog of eyes, noses, mouths, etc., of each actor in different years, were able to work the miracle.

And if you don't believe it, judge for yourself.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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