Killers of the Flower Moon Archives

2024 Academy Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ is the top nominee

January 23, 2024

by Carla Hay

Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer” (Photo by Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

With 13 nods, the Universal Pictures drama “Oppenheimer” (a biopic of atomic bomb creator J. Robert Oppenheimer) is the top nominee for the 96th Annual Academy Awards, which will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 10, 2024. ABC will have the U.S. telecast of the show, which will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. The nominations were announced on January 23, 2024, by Jack Quaid and Zazie Beetz.

The nominations for “Oppenheimer” are Best Picture; Best Director (for Christopher Nolan); Best Actor (for Cillian Murphy); Best Supporting Actor (for Robert Downey Jr.); Best Supporting Actress (for Emily Blunt); Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Film Editing; Best Cinematography; Best Production Design; Best Costume Design; Best Original Score; Best Sound; and Best Visual Effects.

The other contenders for Best Picture are Orion Pictures’ comedy/drama “American Fiction,” Neon’s drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy”Barbie,” Focus Features’ comedy/drama “The Holdovers,” Apple Studios’ drama “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Netflix’s “Maestro,” A24’s drama “Past Lives,” Searchlight Pictures’ comedy/drama “Poor Things” and A24’s drama “The Zone of Interest.” As of 2022, the Academy Awards rule is that no less than 10 movies can be nominated in Best Picture.

“Poor Things” had the second-highest number of Oscar nominations this year (11 nods), followed by “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which had 10 nods. (Click here to read Culture Mix’s reviews of all these movies that are nominated for Best Picture.)

The awards are voted for by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For the 2024 ceremony, eligible movies were those released in the U.S. cinemas or in their native country in 2023.

Snubs and Surprises

Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig on the set of “Barbie” (Photo by Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Barbie” slew of Oscar nominations did not include Greta Gerwig for Best Director or Margot Robbie for Best Actress, even though Gerwig and Robbie had been widely predicted to get Oscar nods in those categories and were nominated at other major awards in those categories. However, Gerwig and Robbie each got other Oscar nominations for the movie. “Barbie” co-writers Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (who are married) were both nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Robbie, who is one of the four producers of “Barbie,” received a nomination for Best Picture, along with “Barbie” producers Tom Ackerley (who is Robbie’s husband), David Heyman, and Robbie Brenner. In the category for Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio did not get a widely predicted nomination for his starring role in “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Movies that have been getting awards or nominations elsewhere were completely snubbed by the Academy Awards. They include the Seachlight Pictures drama “All of Us Strangers,” the Amazon MGM Studios comedy/drama “Saltburn,” the Apple TV+ documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” the HBO documentary “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and and the Amazon MGM Studios drama “Air.”

Some of the biggest surprise nominations came from international films. France’s “Anatomy of a Fall” scored a Best Director nod for Justine Triet, when “Barbie” director Gerwig was widely predicted to be the only female nominee in that category. France’s official selection for Best International Film was not “Anatomy of a Fall” but was “The Taste of Things,” which failed to get any Oscar nominations. Netflix’s “El Conde” (from Chile) received a surprise nod for Best Cinematography, after the movie was passed over at other awards shows. “Society of the Snow” (from Spain) was expected to get nominated for Best International Film, but most awards pundits did not predict that it would also get an Oscar nod for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, which was a category where “Barbie” failed to make the Oscar shortlist and therefore couldn’t be nominated.

Speaking of “Barbie,” America Ferrera got a surprise nomination for Best Supporting Actress, when more people were predicting that Robbie would get an Oscar nomination for being an actress in the film. Another surprise was Scott George’s “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon” getting a nomination for Best Original Song, after being ignored for nominations at other awards shows. “American Fiction” composer Laura Karpman, who was also snubbed at other major awards, got a surprise Oscar nod for Best Original Score.

Diversity and Inclusion

Erika Alexander and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction” (Photo by Claire Folger/Orion Pictures)

Racial diversity is in every actor/actress category at 2022 Academy Awards. Black people are represented the most with “American Fiction,” which has five nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor (for Jeffrey Wright); Best Supporting Actor (for Sterling K. Brown); Best Adapted Screenplay; and Best Original Sore. “American Fiction” is based on Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure,” which is about a literature professor (played by Wright), who invents a fugitive criminal persona to write a book that becomes a surprise hit. Meanwhile, the Ugandan film “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” (co-directed by Moses Bwayo) is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The other Black people nominated for Oscars this year in acting categories are Colman Domingo of Netflix drama “Rustin” (Best Actor); Da’Vine Joy Randolph of the Focus Features drama “The Holdovers” (Best Supporting Actress); and Danielle Brooks of the Warner Bros. Pictures musical “The Color Purple” (Best Supporting Actress). For behind-the-scenes jobs, Black nominees include Kemp Powers, one of the directors for Sony Pictures Animation/Columbia Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”; Jon Batiste, co-writer of “It Never Went Away” from the Netflix documentary “American Symphony” (Best Original Song); Kris Bowers, co-director of The Los Angeles Times/Searchlight Pictures’ “The Last Repair Shop” (Best Documentary Short Film); Christine Turner, co-director of The New Yorker’s “The Barber of Little Rock” (Best Documentary Short Film); Misan Harriman, director of the Netflix drama “The After” (Best Live-Action Short Film); Willie Burton, audio engineer of “Oppenheimer” (Best Sound); and Andrew Roberts, visual effects on-set supervisor of “The Creator” (Best Visual Effects).

Asians were represented in the most Oscar categories with “Past Lives,” a drama about two childhood sweethearts from South Korea who are separated when the girl in the duo moves to North America with her family, and then the two former sweethearts see each other in person years later when she is married to an American man. “Past Lives” writer/director Celine Song, whose life partially inspired the movie, is nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Three movies from Japan are nominated for Oscars: “Perfect Days” (Best International Feature), “The Boy and the Heron” (Best Animated Feature) and “Godzilla Minus One” (Best Visual Effects). Meanwhile, the Indian film “To Kill a Tiger” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film. The Chinese films “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” and “Island in Between” are each nominated for Best Documentary Short Film, while Korean American director Peter Sohn received a Best Animated Feature Film nomination for Pixar’s “Elemental.”

For the first time, there are several Native Americans nominated for Academy Awards in the same year. They are all from “The Killers of the Flower Moon”: the aforementioned songwriter George; Lily Gladstone (Best Actress, the first Native American nominated in this category); and the late Robbie Robertson (Best Original Score).

Hispanic/Latino people nominated for Oscars this year included the aforementioned Ferrera from “Barbie,” plus filmmakers from “Society of the Snow” and “El Conde.” The Chilean film “The Eternal Memory” got an Oscar nod for Best Documentary Feature Film.

LGBTQ representation in the Oscar nominations can be found in the characters played by Colman in “Rustin,” Brown in “American Fiction,” Annette Bening in “Nyad” and Jodie Foster in “Nyad.” Colman and Foster are openly gay in real life.

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards:

Best Picture

“American Fiction,” Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, producers

“Anatomy of a Fall,” Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, producers

“Barbie,” David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, producers

“The Holdovers,” Mark Johnson, producer

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, producers

“Maestro,” Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, producers

“Oppenheimer,” Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, producers

“Past Lives,” David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, producers

“Poor Things,” Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, producers

“The Zone of Interest,” James Wilson, producer

Best Director

Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”)

Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”)

Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”)

Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”)

Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”)

Colman Domingo (“Rustin”)

Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”)

Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”)

Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening (“Nyad”)

Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”)

Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”)

Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”)

Emma Stone (“Poor Things”)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”)

Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”)

Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”)

Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”)

Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”)

Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”)

America Ferrera (“Barbie”)

Jodie Foster (“Nyad”)

Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”)

Best Adapted Screenplay

“American Fiction,” written by Cord Jefferson

“Barbie,” written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach

“Oppenheimer,” written by Christopher Nolan

“Poor Things,” written by Tony McNamara

“The Zone of Interest,” written by Jonathan Glazer

Best Original Screenplay

“Anatomy of a Fall,” written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

“The Holdovers,” written by David Hemingson

“Maestro,” written by Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer

“May December,” written by Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik

“Past Lives,” written by Celine Song

Best Cinematography

“El Conde,” Edward Lachman

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Rodrigo Prieto

“Maestro,” Matthew Libatique

“Oppenheimer,” Hoyte van Hoytema

“Poor Things,” Robbie Ryan

Best Film Editing

“Anatomy of a Fall,” Laurent Sénéchal

“The Holdovers,” Kevin Tent

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Thelma Schoonmaker

“Oppenheimer,” Jennifer Lame

“Poor Things,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Best Sound

“The Creator,” Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Maestro,” Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor

“Oppenheimer,” Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell

“The Zone of Interest,” Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Best Original Score

“American Fiction,” Laura Karpman

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” John Williams

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Robbie Robertson

“Oppenheimer,” Ludwig Göransson

“Poor Things,” Jerskin Fendrix

Best Original Song

“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” music and lyric by Diane Warren

“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt

“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” music and lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson

“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” music and lyric by Scott George

“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Best Animated Feature Film

“The Boy and the Heron,” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

“Elemental,” Peter Sohn and Denise Ream

“Nimona,” Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary

“Robot Dreams,” Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal

Best International Feature Film

“Io Capitano” (Italy)

“Perfect Days” (Japan)

“Society of the Snow” (Spain)

“The Teachers’ Lounge” (Germany)

“The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom)

Best Documentary Feature

“Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

“The Eternal Memory,” Maite Alberdi

“Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

“To Kill a Tiger,” Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

“20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“Golda,” Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue

“Maestro,” Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell

“Oppenheimer,” Luisa Abel

“Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

“Society of the Snow,” Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Best Costume Design

“Barbie,” Jacqueline Durran

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Jacqueline West

“Napoleon,” Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

“Oppenheimer,” Ellen Mirojnick

“Poor Things,” Holly Waddington

Best Production Design

“Barbie,” production design: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” production design: Jack Fisk; set decoration: Adam Willis

“Napoleon,” production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Elli Griff

“Oppenheimer,” production design: Ruth De Jong; set decoration: Claire Kaufman

“Poor Things,” production design: James Price and Shona Heath; set decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Best Visual Effects

“The Creator,” Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

“Godzilla Minus One,” Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

“Napoleon,” Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould

Best Documentary Short Subject

“The ABCs of Book Banning,” Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic

“The Barber of Little Rock,” John Hoffman and Christine Turner

“Island in Between,” S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien

“The Last Repair Shop,” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” Sean Wang and Sam Davis

Best Animated Short Film

“Letter to a Pig,” Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

“Ninety-Five Senses,” Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

“Our Uniform,” Yegane Moghaddam

“Pachyderme,” Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best Live-Action Short Film

“The After,” Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham

“Invincible,” Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

“Knight of Fortune,” Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk

“Red, White and Blue,” Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Review: ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone

October 19, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Killers of the Flower Moon”

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Some language in Dhegiha Siouan with no subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Oklahoma, from 1919 to 1926, the dramatic film “Killers of the Flower Moon” (based on the non-fiction book of the same name) features a white and Native American cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart gets caught up in murders of members of the Osage Nation, including family members of his Osage Nation wife, who are being killed to gain possession of land that is rich in petroleum oil.

Culture Audience: “Killers of the Flower Moon” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the star headliners and history-based movies with a top-notch principal cast.

Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons in “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Photo courtesy of Apple Studios/Paramount Pictures)

Epic in scope and tragic in tone, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an impactful drama that tells the true story of a shameful part of American history when racism and greed caused the murders of Osage Nation people. The movie is very long but worth seeing. At 206 minutes (nearly three-and-a-half hours), “Killers of the Flower Moon” has moments when the pacing tends to drag. However, the movie is impressive in almost every other way.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese directed “Killers of the Flower Moon” from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Eric Roth. The screenplay was adapted from David Grann’s 2017 non-fiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.” “Killers of the Flower Moon” had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” (which takes place in Oklahoma from 1919 to 1926) is fairly straightforward in showing what it’s about early on the story. World War I veteran Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) arrives in the city of Fairfax, Oklahoma, to start a new chapter in his life. Ernest was wounded in the war, so his job opportunities are limited.

Ernest begins working for his cattle-farming uncle William “Bill” Hale, also known as King Hale, who is one of the most powerful and corrupt people in the city. Bill, who is also Farifax’s deputy sheriff, has a fake persona of being an upstanding and lawful citizen. Fairfax and the surrounding cities have a lot of petroleum-rich land that is owned by the Osage Nation tribe of Native Americans/indigenous people, who have a complicated and often uneasy co-existence with the white people who live in the same cities.

Soon after bachelor Ernest arrives in Fairfax, Bill asks him what kind of women appeal to Ernest. Ernest says he likes all types of women and is open to romancing women of Native American heritage. Bill tells Ernest that it would be to Ernest’s financial advantage if he marries and has children with an Osage Nation woman, in order for Ernest to get control of some of the Osage Nation land that can make the owners wealthy from the petroleum oil mined from the land.

There’s a very sinister aspect to this inheritance-by-marriage scheme: Osage Nation people in the area have been dying in alarming numbers in the region. Many of these deaths look like accidents or suicides but are actually murders. This period of time was called the Reign of Terror.

The local law enforcement controlled by white people are doing little to nothing to investigate these deaths and hinder any investigations from Osage Nation officers. It isn’t long before Ernest gets involved in these murders. None of this is spoiler information, since “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a history-based drama.

At Bill’s urging, Ernest begins courting an Osage Nation woman named Mollie Kyle (played by Lily Gladstone), who has hired Ernest to be her driver. Mollie is the movie’s frequent voiceover narrator. Ernest and Mollie have a mild flirtation that quickly grows into mutual sexual attraction. Mollie genuinely falls in love with Ernest. Meanwhile, Ernest seems to have romantic feelings for Mollie, but he’s more in love with what he can get out of this marriage. After a quick courtship, Mollie and Ernest get married and they have children together.

At the time that Mollie and Ernest get married (she changes her last name to Burkhart), her family consists mostly of women. Mollie’s widowed mother Lizzie Q (played by Tantoo Cardinal) suspects that white people are murdering Osage Nation people, so she doesn’t trust white people, and she disapproves of Mollie’s marriage to Ernest. Mollie’s sister Reta (played by Janae Collins) is married to a white man named Bill Smith (played Jason Isbell), who was previously married to Mollie’s other sister Minnie (played by Jillian Dion), who died of a “wasting illness.” Mollie has another sister named Anna (played by Cara Jade Myers), who is feisty and who likes to party.

Other people who are connected in some way to the murders and/or the investigations include Federal Bureau of Investigation official Tom White (played by Jesse Plemons); Osage Nation Chief Bonnicastle (played by Yancey Red Corn); and a lowlife thug named Kelsie Morris (played by Louis Cancelmi), who works closely with Bill. Other supporting actors in the movie include John Lithgow as Prosecutor Peter Leaward and Brendan Fraser as defense attorney W.S. Hamilton. Fraser’s over-the-top performance verges on being campy and doesn’t quite fit the more grounded and somber tone of the movie.

A valid criticism of “Killers of the Flower Moon” is it that the Osage Nation people in the movie aren’t the center of the story and should have been given more screen time and better character development. Except for Mollie and her Osage Nation family members, Osage Nation people are primarily depicted in the movie has having vague or non-existent personalities. Without Mollie and her family, “Killers of the Flower Moon” would be a largely soulless portrayal of hate crimes and racial injustice.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” accurately shows that the wealthy Osage Nation people couldn’t get access to their money without getting permission from the white government officials (in this case, all white men) who controlled the Osage Nation’s finances. Ironically, similar dynamics exist in the film industry, in terms of who usually gets to tell stories about Native American people in big-budget movies. (Not much has changed since the Oscar-winning blockbuster success of 1990’s “Dances With Wolves.”) It’s unlikely that Native American filmmakers—no matter how talented or experienced—would have been given the same privileges or budget to tell this story as the all-white team of producers, screenwriters and director who made “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

One of the more fascinating aspects of “Killers of the Flower Moon” is how the personalities of Ernest and Mollie change during the period of time when this story takes place. At first, Ernest appears to be somewhat of an easily led buffoon who doesn’t seem to know much about life. Over time, Ernest shows that he’s much more manipulative and cunning than he first appears to be. He’s the type of schemer whose loyalties to anyone except himself are very murky, questionable, and can quickly shift to suit his own agenda.

Mollie starts off being confident and outspoken, with more power in the relationship. After all, she was Ernest’s boss when they began their courtship. However, as time goes on, after Mollie and Ernest are married, she becomes worn down and insecure by tragedy and illness. (Mollie, who has diabetes, is being slowly poisoned by tainted insulin without her knowledge.) Mollie’s unconditional love for Ernest also blinds her to the dark side of his personality, so she becomes too trusting of what he’s saying and doing.

The movie tries to push a narrative that Ernest is a loving father and husband who’s conflicted about his ulterior motives. However, during the latter half of the film, there’s no doubt about what type of husband Ernest is, because of his knowledge about why Mollie is slowly dying. Ernest is also not shown having a close bond with his and Mollie’s children (Elizabeth, Cowboy, and Anna), who are all under the age of 7, and are mostly background characters.

Vanessa Rose Pham has the role of Elizabeth as a baby. Kinsleigh McNac has the role of Elizabeth at ages 2 and 3. Elizabeth Waller has the role of Elizabeth at ages 3 to 5 years old. Alexis Waller has the role of Elizabeth at ages 5 and 6. Roanin Davis has the role of Cowboy as a baby. Bravery Lane Nowlin has the role of Cowboy at ages 2 and 3. Mamie Cozad has the role of Anna as a baby. Lux Britni Malaske has the role of Anna at 2 years old.

“Killers of the Flower Moon” is not a murder mystery, because it’s revealed very early on in the story who are the main perpetrators of these crimes. The movie is more of a chronicle of systemic racism and how it leads to incalculable damage that goes beyond city borders. The story is told through the lens of the relationship between Mollie and Ernest as a way for viewers to see how one particular family was affected by evil disguised as entitlement.

On a technical level, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is nearly flawless, when it comes to cinematography, production design, costume design and musical score. (Robbie Robertson, the composer for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” passed away in August 2023.) “Killers of the Flower Moon” succeeds in immersing viewers into this particular community where “truth” and “justice” can be warped and have different meanings to people.

People who watch “Killers of the Flower Moon” can expect the usual excellence from the principal cast members, although there’s a lot of familiarity to DiCaprio and De Niro portraying dishonorable characters in Scorsese movies, as they have done so many times already. Gladstone has the breakout performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” since her depiction of Mollie is absolutely superb. Although the Reign of Terror involved many people in several regions, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” along with Gladstone’s performance, shows with disturbing clarity the horror of a duplicitous serial killer as a trusted member of one’s own household.

Apple Studios and Paramount Pictures will release “Killers of the Flower Moon” in U.S. cinemas on October 20, 2023.