The Irishman | Is Frank Sheeran a Sociopath? 

Is this De Niro's most complex and subtle performance, ever? Has Scorsese become a transcendental filmmaker of late? Is Hoffa at all admirable? We discuss this and much more in our latest podcast - bit.ly/2RSGw1o

DeNiro trying not to cry when they tell him Hoffa is going to get killed is probably the best acting in the movie.

De Niro's performance in this film went under the radar and it's a shame. His part is easily the most difficult one and he absolutely nails it. That telephone call scene near the end of the movie is devastating and some of the best acting I've seen in a long time. There will never be anyone quite like him.

The Irishman is genially a fantastic film, that makes an epic of its runtime. Yes, it is long, but damn does it deserve every second in how it builds to that final shot. I have honestly found that Scorsese has only gotten better as he aged... he has gotten more contemplative in his storytelling, whether it is the contemplation on depravity and how we view it in Wolf of Wall-street or the mediation on faith and how cultural it is in Silence. Man, I wish this man would never stop. Also, this video is really well done, just saying. The editing is on point.

The character never stopped being a soldier who does what he's told. That's about it. Good movie but the feeling after it ends is emptiness and regret.

This is pretty great analysis. Well done and well crafted video essay. Its also ironic that Frank essentially fails in two of his missions to a) speak sense to Hoffa and contain him b) finally effectively warn him of the real danger he faces. His last mission, to kill Hoffa.. sadly, he has no issues completing.

This movie pulled the rug from underneath my feet . De niro plays the soft spoken killer so well. Pesci and pacino were very entertaining and every line delivery was a work of art. Next time ill watch it with my family.

I think what’s special about Frank is he’s one of those guys that does stuff but still feels bad about it but is able to manage it

He definitely was at least by the portrayal in the film. I am so I really related to alot of how he interacts with other people.

He sits in the back because he usually sits up front. He hold the hug too long. He's trying to warn Hoffa something is wrong and he'll take the hint and back out.

Ok that was a great way to end the video with working in the name of the movie and the Irish music

People really complained about the lack of lines Paquin had? Lol, did they even watch the movie?

Great Video!

Best film ever,, makes me cry every single time at the end.

whyve you put ‘oh christmas tree’ in the background

Not making choices is a choice, whether that is acceptable or not is a result of context.

Really great video. What is the song at 1:02

And I CANNOT believe that people say Robert DeNiro didnt do much acting in this movie. It's that subtlety that flies over everyone's heads. If you read up on Frank Sheeran, I believe, DeNiro played him to a tee.

It astounds me how little analysis material there is on The Irishman (on RU-vid). It writes itself.

Joe Pesci was fucking phenomenal. I've never such subtle acting from him. The scene with him and Keitel discussing about the laundry job. His expressions: flawless. He doesn't say a word and it's still obvious what he means. Not only are there layers in the film itself, with the themes and cinematography overlapping, but also the acting has multiple layers. I loved De Niro's stuttering. It was jarring in the best possible way. I feel as if some people thought his stuttering was him fumbling the lines :(

DeNiro not being nominated for an Oscar for this performance is a crime.

De Niro’s truck in the beginning is green just like the coffin at the end, signifying he was dead all along. He was never truly alive, just following orders.

I was frustrated with people not recognizing De Niro's performance as much as Pacino and pesci

Deniros phone call to Hoffas wife after the murder was the best acting hes done in 20 years

Frank's like a GTA main character basically

“I heard you paint houses” “Yes sir I do” **Shows up the next day wearing dirty overalls, holding two large paint cans and a long paint brush**

Good work fellas! Great breakdown of a great film.

I love when Pacino says "If you got iiiiiit, a TRUCK brought it"

Oddly, my favorite moments in this movie are the quiet moments we see Frank spending with Hoffa in his hotel room before he goes to sleep. These really quiet conversations that seemingly mean nothing but mean everything by the end of the movie.

He admitted being a hitman for the mob was like being in the Army. Scorsese seemed to drive the point that he could detach himself and just follow orders like how he was taught by the Army and being in war.

"Frank doesn't understand his own choices anymore than those men who followed orders straight to the grave--he does the same." What a great observation. That sentence sums up perfectly the scene of the soldiers digging their own graves. The scene happens early in the movie. I didn't understand that scene at first or why it was included, but by the end of the film you realize that it was used both metaphorically and to foreshadow the ending of Frank's life. His life story is him dutifully following orders like a good soldier. He has the illusion of power and succession as he's the one who holds the gun and does the killing. But as he slowly moves up the ranks of the crime oligarchy, he ignores the obvious fact that he is actually the one in the hole now and slowly digging his own grave.

I thought he chose the green coffin because it was the color of Jimmy Hoffa's last car when they came to pick him up to kill him.

People who criticize the few lines Paquin has are actually diminishing her role, which is one of THE MOST important ones. Frank's life in the film has three epochs: Befriending Russ, befriending Hoffa, and the killing of Hoffa which led to the long brewing estrangement from his daughter. So yes, she said only a few lines, but her looks and expressions spoke VOLUMES. Acting is so much more than the lines you deliver. These people are morons who should never speak about film again.

He’s playing an Irish catholic dad. Having grown up with one myself I’d say that Deniro really hit the nail on the head with this one

1:00 Scorsese was in the music video for Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’...?! What?! That’s awesome... never woulda known...

There is a lack of expressiveness and emotion in his character's interactions and De Niro only expresses anger and rage convincingly. In some scenes, he says nothing. It is very disturbing.

" Guy was an interior decorator "

De Niro’s performance here is so underrated. He is unbelievably good in a very subtle way. It’s not obviously flashy but the more you watch the movie, the more depth and nuance you notice in De Niro’s performance. It’s up there with his 70s roles imo...

The ending of this movie was extremely remeniscent of "The Green Mile" in the way that both protagonists choose orders over what they truly believe is right, and they both have to live in a changed world with people they really don't know since all of their friends/family have died

Anyone realize Hoffa's wife is the babysitter from Goodfellas who wouldn't fly without her lucky hat?

The fact DeNiro didnt get an Oscar for this makes me want to paint some houses

The people that complain that this is a remake of all of Scorsese’s other gangster films are the same people that wait in line for days to see a Star Wars sequel. This movie left me absolutely wrecked after I first saw it. So much that I had to find a actual theater to watch it in again to give it the respect it deserves.

"Frank's grief is palpable in his confession to the priest", what? When asked about the families he shrugs it off "I didn't know them". Water under the dam meaning who cares, it's old news. It carries no weight anymore, no significance to him. Hoffa doesn't weigh on him, he only mentions that there was one target he knew. No one he killed was anyone to him, except he acknowledges that he did kill someone who was connected to him. That's not a sign of empathy in my opinion, it's a statement of emotionless fact. You didn't mention how at the end he asks if there's anything he can say or do to patch things up with his daughter. That's the final bit of evidence he has no empathy. He's not dumb, he knows he's lacking what other people have. He knows there is some way to fake it. He asks that because he doesn't know how to fake it since he's never bothered to fake it before. He's always been cold blooded and at the end he's asking how to appear warm blooded and he gets no answer to that because it's far too late to worry about that now- something he also doesn't understand. That's my view on it.

3:08 Jack Nicholson's BBC still haunts many of us to this day :(

heard he was interior decorator, the man killed 16 Czechoslovakians

I'm just now realizing that "water under the dam" might've been a sort of Freudian slip. The common phrase is water under the bridge. That phrase carries even greater symbolism in this movie when taking a look at Frank's beginnings. I don't want to dig too deeply into it, maybe it's nothing, but I find it interesting.

This is the best film analysis I've seen for this movie.

Yes, the character is clearly empathically disturbed. Slightly hinted that it was because of his experiences during the war (or he was always like that, who knows). Talking about the character De Niro played, not the actual Frank Sheeran

"Once Deniro gets his first job as an interior designer" awesome line! 🔥😂❤️👍

Irishman hits real hard when it comes to the realism and if the cast would've been like 20 years younger it would feel even more true to the Italian American mob world. Still you have 3 legends in a movie and a 4th that's been producing this piece of film history.

Sociopath doesnt feel emotions like the average person, seeing how Frank was haunted the rest of his life by the action he took, i would think he isnt A SOCIOPATH BUT a person who had to make a hard chocie between his death or one of his friends death, as most humans would do reguardless of what you say/think, frank is willingly to give his friend life up to keep his own, and he never forgets about the chocie he made , thus he isnt a sociopath, i.e. a person who uses others and disreguards them once their use is fullfilled.

Movie of the year for me, the script is subtle in many ways, the violence is there, the cast was insane, THAT SCENE BETWEEN HOFFA AND TONY PRO. Scorcese made another masterpie e.

i thought "water under the dam" had a very very important different then "water under the bridge" you figure it out

I was exhausted after a long week of work and fell asleep the first night I watched this film. This last week I’ve watched it about three times and it’s amazing.

I noticed in the first tracking shot it shows Sheeran's hand where he is still wearing Frank's watch and Russ' ring, long after both are dead.

Would you mind having a detailed Soundtrack Used List in the Description rather than a link to a music site? all i see is a Sign In Page and no list, it would be of better utility to have an actual text track list in the description for the audience to at least copy paste and search on youtube if the viewer is curious. RU-vid links are generally useless since music is constantly being removed and replaced all the time anyway. But the usual: Track Name - Artist Name , type listing wouldn't hurt. Please, some of the soundtracks you utilized in this essay were very enjoyable and the accessibility to some of the songs will undoubtedly alter over the years of this essay sitting here. which by the way, great essay.

i find it kind of funny how some said there was no women in a movie called _The Irishman._ i mean . . . you can't really fault them for false advertising or anything.

My initial reaction on reading the title of the post was, "Is the pope a catholic?". I'm glad I chose to watch however. A thoughtful meditation on the ideas and mores of this movie - thanks for posting.

It's a great video, but the stammering while talking about the WW2 experience isn't likely just because he's shaken recalling the memory, it's because the book the movie's based on has Sheernan mentioning multiple times he had a stammering/stuttering issue that multiple individuals pointed out to him in an affectionate way. DeNiro actually does the stammering thing all throughout the movie, including the voiceover passages.

All people ever talk about with this movie is the 30 second grocery store scene and it drives me crazy. Its a great movie

Wow this was amazing! Made an already emotional film even more powerful

If not a sociopath, then damn close - but, born, or made? To my mind, those 400 days of killing people in the war irreparably damaged his psyche and his soul. But could he have done those things if he wasn't already lacking some capacity for empathy? Some people are very weak-willed.

Your videos are so full of charm editing, pacing, and effort. This is some quality content.

Anyone who kills for a living has to be a sociopath all these gangsters are sociopaths like they it isn’t personal it’s business with a attitude like that you have to be a lunatic

Right off the bat...no. He clearly felt guilt. “What kind of man makes that phone call?”

The Irishman is a tragedy. Even the ending was totally ironic in that he wanted to 'leave something behind' to an alienated family.

I love the Irishman but raging bull is his most complex

Awesome video. Really lays it out great! I'm a huge fan of this movie. Was my number one of the year and it's so different to Scorsese's other gangster flicks. On the surface it may look like just another Goodfellas or Casino but how you laid this out was perfect!

Man i dunno de niro kept playing Frank like he cared. Like he felled something but when he says in church that he didnt feel anything. I dunno. Just doesn’t sit right with me, maybe it wouldve been better if he just didnt say anything... but hey, that’s me, what do you think?

Yes he's a sociopath. Anyone who takes human life for money is a sociopath and just go on with their day is a sociopath. A pure sociopath. No empathy. A felling of entitlement. Lying comes easy. Yeah... He's a sociopath. Also murdering those close to you also moves you into the side of sociopathy called psychopathy. He's a very violent sociopath and near psychopath. The way he kills Jimmy and just goes on with his day is fucking creepy and scary cold. It's no big deal. Talking to Jimmy's mourning scared wife on the phone; lying and doing incredible gaslighting techniques mere hours after murdering her husband. No human empathy. Just doesn't care. Blank. There's nothing there. He's empty. He's just a hyper violent, murder for hire tool. That's it.

of course hes a sociopath/psychopath. he tricked and killed one of his most loyal and best friends. he killed ppl in front of their children. plus he didnt even feel bad about it when he was old and about to die.

Robert De Niro plays the Irishman in Goodfellas and in The Irishman. One of the greatest Actors ever!

Frank`s stammering wasn't because he was shaken or remorseful. It was because Denise does his homework - Frank Sheerhan had a permanent stammer when he spoke.

Holy fuck, your point about how long Frank served in the war is so important to his character, and so easy to miss.

You missed one of the most important moments, the door left open in the last shot... the film ends on a question - Is he ever able to feel remorse and find absolution? Even his final choices seem more like pragmatic concessions than actual decisions.

Joe Pesci at the scene with Crazy Joe.

I don’t think people have realised truly how great this film is… Look back at history, most great films were given mixed reception upon release, then about 15 years later, they’re iconic. The exact same will happen to this masterpiece. If you go even further in time, say 30 years when the ones who crafted this film such as, Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino and Pesci sadly pass away: *This movie will be a legacy…*

You bleep out swear words, but have no problem showing cocaine and mass death in the first 60 seconds.

All mobsters are sociopaths at some point in their lives how do you go to church kiss your mother play with your children yet kill somebody and act like it’s no big deal as well as some politicians

The scene where he tries to comfort Jo, being forced to lie to her about Hoffa's fate is some of the best acting in the film.

DeNiro was very subtle and nuanced. That's why most people don't realize why he is so masterful

"Go home & get ur fucking shinebox " will forever be iconic, be iconic

I dont know if Frank is pure evil at the end. This movie is amazing

Dude your editing and sound mixing is so good it feels like im watching a youtube video made by scorsese himself.

I think it really is overlooked that Frank was Hoffa's friend but he was already part of the mob before he met him. Buffalino was not only his boss but his mentor and someone he had I guess we could say a "father/son" relationship with. While with Hoffa it was more like big brother/younger brother. At the end of the day it wasn't just a matter of which "master he truly served" it was about making the choice between those two figures. And that's putting aside the fact that when the mafia asked you to do something in those days they weren't really asking.

This movie is a crime and if anybody knows anything about what happened, how it happened, Frank Sheerden played no part he was a small-time Hood who was trying to make money by selling another lie of a book before he died De Niro was warned by people who followed the LCN for years because he put some of the money out to buy the story. His acting in it was terrible he couldn't throw a punch when he had to and he couldn't kick someone who was down when he had to but there were other actors that played great Parts Pacino played a great part otherwise the movie was basically made up to suit De Niro and when he was warned about it he started yelling and screaming at the people who warned him that it was bogus on behalf of the man who is trying to make money before he died. Being from South Philly and knowing the story and heard of Frank he's where he belongs cuz he was a piece of s***. Just like Robert De Niro.

This will go down as a movie that definitely should have one an Oscar

Media: "Women don't get a lot of lines in The Irishman!" THAT'S THE POINT

400 days as a combat infantryman. The die was cast in the army

Rob disappeared in this, acting next level, you can visually see in his face the guy isnt right in the head, ageing like wine

DeNiro was absolutely powerful in The Irishman. My favorite link win the whole film has got to be “It is was it is”

Fantastically edited and a fantastic viewpoint on already awesome characters. Fantastic video, is what I'm tryna say

I clicked for the title, and stayed for the editing.

I watch a lot of breakdowns of film on RU-vid and this is one of the most well edited, written, and conceptualized ones.

The Irishman is the best. Also seriously Catholic!!!

I really identified with DeNiro’s portrayal of Frank in The Irishman! Perhaps because he is one of the greatest actors of all time!

Small detail but I really liked what you did with the titles in this especially the rack focus at 9:25

This is the best review of The Irishman I have seen, very thoughtful. I think the film is Scorsese's masterpiece.

Love the video! Just an FYI, can you please be careful about posting spoiler clips to films that you’re not talking about? You show a lot of clips here for a lot of films without any warning...

6:25 the real Frank Sheeran had a stutter. That’s honestly the only part of this entire story that this movie portrays accurately. I’d recommend reading The Quiet Don and The Life We Chose to get a more accurate version of what happened.