THE IRISHMAN has won rave reviews since debuting on Netflix with many critics hailing it as Martin Scorsese’s best film in years.
Boasting a stellar cast featuring old Scorsese favourites like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel, it’s already being tipped for Oscar success in 2020.
But if there is one minor criticism among Netflix users – and it is a very minor one – it is the film’s rather lengthy run time.
The Irishman comes in at a hefty three hours and 29 minutes and, for some viewers at least, that’s a little too long to watch in just one sitting.
Thankfully help is at hand in the form of a handy hack put together by one Twitter user that allows you to watch it in three perfectly-formed parts.
In doing so, he’s effectively turned The Irishman from an absorbing and sprawling mob drama into an epic TV mini-series.
How you choose to watch it is entirely up to you, of course, but the guide suggests three very exact cut-off points for anyone looking to watch it as a TV special.
In this version of The Irishman, the ‘first part’ concludes around the 49-minute mark, at the point where Jimmy Hoffa ends his call to Frank Sheeran.
The ‘second part’ wraps up at 1 hour 40 minutes, when viewers are introduced to Joey the Blond.
Finally, the ‘third part’ concludes at 2 hours 47 minutes, when Frank exits his house.
From there viewers move on to the ‘fourth and final part’ of Scorsese’s crime epic.
I created a viewing guide for everyone who thinks THE IRISHMAN is too damn long for one night. You're welcome! #scorsese #netflix #theirishman pic.twitter.com/sH06AxJ7he
— Alexander Kardelo (@dunerfors) November 28, 2019
A viral hit since being posted on Twitter, the idea of watching The Irishman as a four-part series is not without its detractors – with Scorsese chief among them.
The filmmaker dismissed the idea of The Irishman as a series, telling Entertainment Weekly “the point of this picture is the accumulation of detail”.
“It’s an accumulated cumulative effect by the end of the movie – which means you get to see from beginning to end [in one sitting] if you’re so inclined.
“A series is great. It’s wonderful. You can develop character and plot lines and worlds are recreated, but this wasn’t right for that.”
