tantoo cardinal – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Review by Susan Granger

October 27, 2023September 28, 2025 Susan Granger Apple TV+, David Grann, eric roth, jesse plemons, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, martin scorsese, Osage Nation, robert deniro, tantoo cardinal

Master storyteller Martin Scorsese’s harrowing epic Killers of the Flower Moon relates an American true-crime drama, set in the 1920s. Adapted from David Grann’s nonfiction 2017 best seller, the ambitious, solidly structured screenplay by Eric Roth and Scorsese focuses on the ruthless murders of members of the Osage Nation whom the U.S. government forced out of Kansas to relocate on 2,300 acres if barren land in what is now Oklahoma.

Reviews

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 Valerie Kalfrin David Grann, eric roth, jesse plemons, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, martin scorsese, Osage Nation, Robbie Robertson, robert de niro, Rodrigo Prieto, tantoo cardinal

To the Osage, the flower moon occurs when tiny flowers sprout over the hills in waves of color. Then taller plants pop up among them, stealing their water and sunshine, eventually killing them—the forces that doom them lying among them all along. The film Killers of the Flower Moon doesn’t hammer home the metaphor that author David Grann introduced in his best-selling 2017 book of the same name. But this intricate crime drama about the real-life slayings on the Osage Nation over the inheritance of oil rights gives director Martin Scorsese other allegories. The evil of White supremacy. The poison of greed. The betrayal of native people overall.

Movie of the Week Reviews

MOVIE OF THE WEEK August 14, 2020: THE GRIZZLIES

August 8, 2020August 23, 2020 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, inuit, jennifer merin, kathia woods, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, marina antunes, miranda de pencier, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, nikki baughan, Pam Grady, sandie angulo chen, susan wloszczyna, tantoo cardinal, the grizzlies, truth-based

The Grizzlies, based on a true story, is about a fired-up white outsider coming into a close-knit Indigenous community full of confidence that, with his passion and approachability, he can connect with the skeptical teens he’s there to teach and make a difference. And, to be fair, he does exactly that. But not before he’s forced to learn some hard truths about the folly of thinking you can “fix” another culture — or understand people who’ve been traumatized for generations by colonialism if you haven’t been through it yourself.