- Position‹3 of 5›
- Watch a drama
- Argument1 of 3›
Watch The Irishman during quarantine
Cold-blooded murders, manipulative scheming, and betrayals- this movie based on the 2004 nonfiction book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt, paints a picture of the events in the life of Frank Sheeran as he confesses to his crimes, confined in a nursing home.
The argument
At three and a half hours in length, the movie The Irishman can be one of quarantine's best investments — and on this argument the length is the recommendation rather than a caveat. Quarantine supplies the one thing a film of that scale normally cannot count on, which is an audience with an unbroken evening and nowhere else to be. A running time that would be an obstacle in ordinary circumstances becomes an asset when the problem to be solved is a long, featureless stretch of time. The movie is inspired by Frank Sheeran's real life in crime, which gives it the weight of a whole life rather than the shape of an episode, and proponents argue that even though it is long, it does not feel like it is. The reason offered is the quality of viewing it allows: the film is easygoing, and does not ask to be decoded or kept up with. It unfolds at a pace that lets a viewer settle into it, which is what makes the duration pass as absorption rather than endurance. The particular effect singled out is one of address. The film does not position the viewer as an outsider looking in at a criminal world, but rather considers them as Frank Sheeran's partner — Sheeran played by Robert De Niro — so that events arrive as things happening alongside the viewer rather than in front of them. Company, on this account, is precisely what is in short supply during a period of isolation, and a film that supplies it does more than occupy the hours. Life in quarantine can be extremely dull, and this argument holds that The Irishman is anything but: long enough to fill the time, absorbing enough that the time does not register, and companionable while it lasts.
Premises
Counter-arguments
The 209-minute picture is boring and badly directed. Since the movie is male-oriented and excludes its women viewers, the theme is not appealing to many. The movie's actors and "de-aging" is ridiculous, and the movie could have executed this better. The movie is not worth the time invested.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Length is offered as the recommendation, but it is neutral at best — a long film fills time whether or not it rewards it, and "one of quarantine's best investments" restates the conclusion rather than supporting it. [Rejecting P2] The second premise is a report of one viewer's experience, and the closeness to the protagonist it describes is exactly what other viewers have found alienating; nothing here compares the film with any other drama, which is what a claim about the best thing to watch requires.