There’s no doubt that the title Killers of the Flower Moon is familiar to a lot of people – but what is the new movie actually about?
Releasing worldwide in theaters on October 20, 2023, Killers of the Flower Moon has been touted as one to watch since its world premiere at Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year.
With a host of famous faces alongside some up-and-coming stars, director Martin Scorsese has directed another historical epic with a total runtime of 3 hours and 26 minutes.
While some of Scorsese’s choices have been criticized, Killers of the Flower Moon is still set to be another timeless cinematic classic. Here’s everything you need to know about its plot, cast, and if it’s worth watching.
What is Killers of the Flower Moon about?
According to the film’s synopsis, “In the 1920s, members of the Osage Native American tribe of Osage County, Oklahoma, are murdered after oil is found on their land, and the FBI decides to investigate.”
Based on a true story, the film is also based on the 2017 non-fiction book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI written by journalist David Grann. By the end of the year, the book was considered one of the top 10 best non-fiction books to be released in 2017.
Earlier novel Mean Spirit – on the same topic – by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1991.
Characters such as Mollie Burkhart, Ernest Burkhart, and William Hale were all real people, though it has been noted that there were more Osage Nation deaths in real life than the movie includes.
Killers of the Flower Moon cast: Who’s in it?
The Killers of the Flower Moon cast includes:
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Robert De Niro
- Lily Gladstone
- Jesse Plemons
- Tantoo Cardinal
- Brendan Fraser
- Janae Collins
- John Lithgow
- Cara Jade Myers
- Jillian Dion
- Jason Isbell
- Louis Cancelmi
- William Belleau
- Scott Shepherd
- Yancey Red Corn
- Tatanka Means
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DiCaprio and De Niro are each longtime collaborators with Martin Scorsese, yet Killers of the Flower Moon is the first time that the pair are working on one of the famed director’s projects together.
Scorsese has spoken of DiCaprio’s early improvisations as “eye rolling” for both him and De Niro.
Killers of the Flower Moon also marks Lily Gladstone’s biggest role to date.
Is Killers of the Flower Moon worth watching?
Our review calls Killers of the Flower Moon “both a colossal and astonishing feat. Its success is destined to ride on the coattails of Scorsese’s earlier work, heralded as a film to look to for how to handle history with an outside eye.
“If viewers can make their peace with the runtime, the film is a no-holds-barred history lesson that will be etched in their minds for life. Academy Awards, here we come…”
The New York Times called the film “an unsettling masterpiece… As the oil begins to gurgle and then to gush, it splatters a half-dozen Osage men who’ve started to dance ecstatically at the discovery, their bodies slicked with petroleum — a harbinger of the blood that, as Scorsese reminds you in this heartbreaking masterpiece, has long engulfed us all.”
The Standard wrote: “This is a much, much better film than The Irishman, which unapologetically focused on the male gangsters with whom Scorsese will forever be most closely associated. It looks beautiful, features a wealth of great performances, and tells a tale that needed to be told, very well indeed. It is – genuinely – his best since The Wolf of Wall Street. Not a line that would make it onto those posters, perhaps, but impressive nonetheless.”
Killers of the Flower Moon hits cinemas on October 20. Find out more about it here, and you can see more of our upcoming film coverage below:
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