"- Management can only fire a driver on very specific charges.
- So, you ever show up late? - No.
- Do you have any moving violations? - No.
- Do you drink on the job? - No.
- You ever hit anybody?
- On the job? - Yeah.
- No. - All right then, we don't have nothing to worry about."
♪ ♪
Freak directors only need a few things to instantly convey their authorship.
When camera movement,
blocking
and framing all come together
they can encompass a film's entire world
or more specifically
a director's unique vision of that world.
"- Are you looking at my ears? - Your ears?
- No."
The Irishman's opening is a noteworthy diversion
from the breakneck cadence of Scorsese's earlier works.
Let's see how Martin Scorsese introduces us to the world of
"The Irishman."
"- What happened to "Say cheese"?
Cheese!"
♪ Director's Playbook Intro ♪
♪ ♪
The "Irishman" is an epic
that spans decades of mafia hitman
Frank Sharon's life in crime.
"- Nobody can fuck with you."
The film begins where Frank's journey ends.
In the dim hallways of a nursing home
where he quietly grows old.
But the point of this long take isn't just to get to Frank.
It's the show viewers what's weighing on his conscience.
The scenes guiding purpose is to show
how Frank's violent past haunts him
even in the tranquility of old age.
Watch how Scorsese asks us to slow down
to contemplate who and what are in the frame
and what they might say about the man we're about to meet.
♪ ♪
Notice that when the scene fades in from black
Scorsese enframes the wing of Frank's nursing home with total darkness.
If you've seen John's Ford "The Searchers"
you might note that Scorsese's choice here
is perhaps influenced
by the famous opening and closing shots of Ford's classic.
The camera beckons us to come inside
and to be told a story.
"The Five Satins In the Still of the Night"
pushes us further into Frank's headspace.
One of stillness
and perhaps regret.
♪ ♪
Once we move into the light
the props and extras in the frame
begin to tell us about Frank's world.
Doctors and nurses on standby.
A small statue of the Virgin Mary.
And another.
Now we have even more information.
Elderly patients and religious iconography.
And a visiting priest.
But what do they point to?
Perhaps mortality.
Or absolution.
Eventually, we'll see for ourselves
that if anyone needs absolution,
it's Frank Sheeran.
♪ ♪
Note the extras we pass.
Residents playing games
or visiting with relatives.
♪ ♪
And then there's Frank.
He sits alone.
We could have stumbled upon Frank
filling in a crossword puzzle or chatting with friends,
but that wouldn't capture the crushing solitude he experiences daily.
"- Peggy.
Peggy.
I just want to talk."
As the camera arcs around Frank,
it hangs on his giant golden ring.
It's not immediately clear why this ring is significant,
but Scorsese goes out of his way to tell us that it is.
"- Only three people in the world have one of these.
And only one of them is Irish."
The first four lines added by Franco are heard in voiceover.
This underscores his introspective nature.
His desire to remember days past.
"- When I was young, I thought house painters painted houses.
What did I know?
I was a working guy.
A business agent for Teamster Local 107
out of South Philly."
But the next two lines Frank speaks aloud.
Breaking the fourth wall.
"- One of a thousand working stiffs...
until I wasn't no more.
And then...
I started painting houses...
myself."
And then...
Now this feels like a Scorsese picture.
The symbols in each shot
give us the key ingredients of Frank's lifestyle.
Gun.
Blood.
Invitation.
Ring. There it is again.
Watch.
Money.
"- In this particular matter,
the whole thing was built around the wedding."
That blend of family and criminality
we often expect from Marty's vision of the gangster.
This cuts back and forth
between the stillness of Frank's present and his past
perfectly sets up the memoir-like pacing of "The Irishman".
"- I heard you paint houses.
- Yes. Yes, sir, I... I do. I do."
The Irishman is a portrait of a man weathered by life
and haunted by the specter of death.
That's how it creeps up on you
long after the credits have rolled.
What's your favorite opening shot in a movie?
Tell us all about it in the comments.
Head over to the StudioBinder blog
to download a copy of "The Irishman" screenplay.
Or to see custom storyboards for "Goodfellas" and "The Departed".
Make sure you subscribe and enable notifications
for more videos on filmmakers like Marty,
Quentin, Francis and more.
We'll see you next time.
♪ ♪