DiCaprio praises Scorsese’s epic ‘reckoning with past’

CEBU, Philippines — Leonardo DiCaprio lauded Martin Scorsese’s filmmaking “ferocity” as they basked in rave reviews at Cannes for their Native American crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Scorsese’s latest opus, about a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s, was hailed as “searing”, a “triumph” and a “masterpiece” by critics who scored the Cannes Film Festival’s hottest ticket for the premiere.

Based on a non-fiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio as a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage woman and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle, played by Scorsese’s other long-time muse, Robert De Niro.

DiCaprio called the three-and-a-half-hour film “a reckoning with our past” and was full of praise for Scorsese, saying the 80-year-old’s “perseverance and ferocity to tell the truth, no matter how ugly...is masterful.”

Scorsese told AFP he had put the film in an out-of-competition slot, rather than compete for the Palme d’Or, because “it’s time for others. I got to go.” The Apple-funded film is due for general release in October.

The iconic director, who won the Palme in 1976 for “Taxi Driver”, said: “I like the golden statues. I like them very much. But now I think of time and energy and inspiration – that’s the most important thing.”

The three-and-a-half-hour movie sees DiCaprio play alongside Scorsese's other long-time muse Robert De Niro, and charts a wave of murders among oil-rich Osage Indians in the 1920s and the birth of the FBI.

‘Best-ever performance’ 

Based on a nonfiction bestseller, the film sees DiCaprio play a weak-willed man who marries a wealthy Osage Indian and is drawn into the deadly schemes of his kingpin uncle (De Niro).

Words like “searing”, “triumph” and “masterpiece” were bandied about by critics who managed to get their hands on a ticket.

IndieWire said DiCaprio gives “his best-ever performance”, while The Guardian awarded five stars for a “remarkable epic about the bloody birth of America.”

There were some dissenting notes, with The Times calling it “a damp squib” and Little White Lies saying Scorsese “guts the story of anything that might sully the high seriousness of the subject matter.”

It is the first time Scorsese has presented a film here since 1985’s lesser-known “After Hours”, though he served as jury president in 1998.