Dem Teeth

Last night, or yesterday afternoon, rather, I saw Killers of the Flower Moon, a movie of geek delight, hype-wise. This is was for the fact that the great Marty Score-ses-see had finally, after decades of work, collab’d with his two fav long-time actor buddies and frequent collaborators of his as well, Leo D and Bobby D. And much screen time together did they share (I just heard Leo’s redneck voice as I wrote that [is “redneck” offensive yet, or has that group not mobilized on social media yet?]). And in sharing the screen, they plotted many a horrible deed against their fellow men and women.

The movie’s tone and direction felt much like, and I was trying to figure it out through most of the viewing, like Goodfellas set in the 1920s. It was mostly about these mob-like rich guys trying to off one Indigenous person after another in order to funnel the inheritance money into their pockets through a network created by white-and-Indian marriages. I know Goodfellas wasn’t like that, but that movie, in essence, felt to me like a small group of guys killing one person after another that wronged them or stood in their way or betrayed them. Not the same motivation exactly, but a very similar scene-by-scene it became.

Am I crapping on it? Certainly no. T’was a fine picture. Unsettling at times, I dare say. Especially towards the end when -

— Yup, you guessed it, SPOILER ALERT —

- Leo D’s character, Ernest, is flip-flopping on who to side with: the FBI or his powerful Uncle King, whose been getting him to help in all matters of Indian killing and Indian poisoning.

The latter happened to his wife. This guy, Ernest, willingly poisoned, in softcore doses, his wife so that she would stop snooping around the murder of her sister, by order of Uncle King.

Leo's Teeth in the Movie

The other unsettling part to which I was eluding besides the whole poison bit? The flip-flopping. Why? Because the film does a great job of really making it unclear as to which is the right choice as federally-ordered court dates loom. My uncle, who has given me all I have but also stands to destroy it, or the FBI and their promises of getting off clean? Now, if I’d learned anything from Succession, it’s that one should side with the target that comes with the highest likelihood of helping me attain what I deem to be victory, thus why -

— Oh yes, S.A. —

- (omitted) constantly sided with (omitted) and in the end became (omitted). That was Succession.

Back to KOTFM:

Ernest shoulda sided with the most powerful force, and in this case, it was his uncle, King, not the FBI. He got himself and his uncle sent to prison. It was the government that actually was heavily responsible for Ernest losing it all. They put his wife in a hospital, where she was treated for and recovered from all his poisoning, thus leading her to find out that such a thing was happening to her in the first place, and they turned him against his uncle. Dark, I know, yes, and maybe that’s why Score-ses-see, before the film even started, came in with that typical-for-today-because-ticket-sales-are-down-film-creator-moment-thanking-the-audience-for-actually-coming-out-and-seeing-this-thing-and-not-just-waiting-a-month-for-the-stream and said that this story has been very personal to him for a long time. I’d guess, knowing his work and the fact that he once strongly contemplated the path of priesthood, that he said this because the story really delves into the blurred lines of morality and power, a hallmark for Mr. Score. He delves into criminal worlds and shows you that might makes right, and how the affects the victims and the powerful, both. Usually, the powerful fall in his films in most Macbethian ways.

Felt kinda like Sopranos too, in a way, the relationship between Tony and Chrissy, the latter having done so much for the former, and in the end, losing it all (spoiler al… ah, fuck it).

What’s my ultimate point here? Side with power, I suppose, if you’re going to play the power game at all. Power in the criminal world, I mean. This guy, Ernest, got into a game in which people were pawned and knocked off by the king, to use a semi-confusing and semi-cheesey analogy. Go big within the game you’re playing, or go home and don’t play at all. And the higher you get, the more one must be willing to abide by the rules of the game one has played, for therein one becomes excellent within a chosen realm, and the target that others will one day reach for.

Man, here I reveal to you a side that few understand.

Subjectivity, my dear Watson, Subjectivity.