Mobbed By The Movies

These two films could hardly be more different. I watched The Irishman and The Lavender Hill Mob in quick succession. Though poles apart in tone and content, both speak of the possibilities of cinema.

First up was Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. Scorsese reunites all sorts of familiars from his repertory company of mob players, most notably Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, with Al Pacino thrown in for good measure. The result is a very long but always gripping interrogation of the ordinariness of immorality, with a neat speculation on the fate of Jimmy Hoffa lobbed in to flavour the stew. I know comparisons are odious but this movie is not as fine as Scorsese's masterpiece, Goodfellas, but it is nonetheless a major film. Pesci leaves the scenery-chewing to Pacino on this occasion - quite right too because Hoffa (Pacino) merits such a treatment. Ultimately Hoffa is too flamboyant for his own good. It is his failure to appreciate the power of quiet men that dooms him. Pesci meanwhile gives us his finest performance in an uncharacteristically subdued manner. Chilling. De Niro is, of course, superb. No surprise there. 81/100.

Scorsese paints on a huge canvass - great lashings of cinematography splurged all over the place. In contrast The Lavender Hill Mob runs for barely a third of the duration of The Irishman. That does not diminish its impact, in fact the brevity heightens the cinematic effect. The comedy is poignant, the acting artfully measured. The whole thing is a joy. No scenery-chewing is required. None is given. British, monochrome, brilliant. I can't separate the two films on merit. 81/100.