Coming Soon (Tomorrow): Frank Sheeran Appreciation Night Week

If my favorite scene in a 2019 movie was probably the “Out of Time” sequence in “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”, setting the table for the revisionist conclusion, my favorite set piece of 2019 was probably Frank Sheeran Night in “The Irishman.” That I’d call it a set piece rather than a sequence is because it is a virtual mini-movie within a movie, one you could extract and allow to stand on its own even as it works within the movie itself to both highlight its myriad themes and aesthetics and set up a prominent character’s crucial fall. I decided to dissect this sequence, as I sporadically do with sequences I adore, though it soon became apparent that such a task – the sequence runs over 20 minutes – was going to require so many screenshots that you, prospective reader, might well lose track midway through. I might’ve lost track! As such, I expanded my dissection of Frank Sheeran Appreciation Night into four posts since the set piece essentially revolves around four different conversations, coming this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

I’d like to think subjecting myself to this exercise, which I really enjoyed even if took a good long while, might put to bed the notion that Thelma Schoonmaker – known legend – was somehow a lackluster editor because the movie was three-and-a-half hours, demonstrating that editing isn’t necessarily about “length”. But if you already thought “The Irishman” was too long, I don’t know how you will survive four blog posts about a single sequence.