Britta

My favorite show I've ever seen, and I'm devastated by its cancellation as it filled such a specific and empty niche in media--I felt so seen and at home here, despite how dangerous and fantastical the story could be. I fell in love with Our Flag Means Death's goofiness and grittiness almost immediately, and I stayed in love because of the emotion and love that seeps through the pores of this show. A must watch (and a must renew!)

Jesus Christ. I’d heard absolutely none of this history going in, and was shocked that I hadn’t by the time I left. That was a devastating, horrifying, and necessary piece of cinema. There were a few choices I didn’t feel worked too well, most notably the omission of most—but not all—subtitles for Osage dialogue. It removed me from the film somewhat, because getting a subtitle was jarring and felt like “hey! this dialogue is so important that it can’t go unsubtitled!” and it lost its subtlety that way. I think (and take this with a grain of salt as I’m no film critic) a better way to go about the dialogue would be to begin with it unsubtitled and then, as Ernest begins to understand the Osage language, the dialogue becomes subtitled. The choice to not subtitle makes us, the viewers, feel almost alienated from the Osage in a way I’m not sure Scorsese intended. Obviously, we are not a part of their tribe, but I wanted to know what they were saying, to feel with them, and it was weird to be left in the dark when everyone else in the scene understood what was being said. My other small gripe was that this is a very long movie, and so moments of distraction are bound to happen. Considering that, there were moments that were, at least to me, hard to understand if you didn’t catch one very short cue earlier. I don’t want to spoil anything by giving an example, but if you have watched the movie, I’m sure you know what I mean. This movie was rife with subtext. Characters rarely said what they meant, and that took a second to get used to, but then became one of the greatest points of the film. It made for an incredible juxtaposition between polite veneers and sinister truths, and allowed for twice the revelation of character—both in what they said and what they didn’t. The actors, across the board, were fantastic. I don’t know enough about the history to tell you how period-appropriate the accents were, but the mannerisms and attitudes of the cast felt completely right to me. I don’t think I can criticize a single acting choice at all. DiCaprio especially impressed me. Every time I see one of his movies I am reminded of what a fantastic actor he is. Say what you want about him, but he can absolutely lose himself in a character, no matter how recognizable he is. Lily Gladstone also was excellent, especially in her portrayal of grief. She transferred her pain to me each time she cried. It takes a powerful actress to do a thing like that. I don’t have a complaint about the length of the movie. An intermission would have absolutely been nice, but I’m genuinely grateful we got every scene that we got. I think I would have watched another hour of this. Nothing felt unnecessary. No, more than that—everything felt necessary. This movie is unsettling. It is occasionally nauseating and frequently shocking. It is confounding and, at times, confusing. But most of all, it is important. It is a reminder of the twisted, hidden history of this country. It is a eulogy to the murdered Osage. And it is a scathing rebuke to both those who participate in such evil and those who stand idly by.