The Irishman

The Irishman is Netflix's crowning achievement in prestige cinema, a 3.5-hour gangster epic that demands and rewards patient viewing. Boasting a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, Martin Scorsese's meditation on aging and violence reunites Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in digitally de-aged roles that cost $175 million to produce. Its runtime outperforms #2 Marriage Story by over two hours, yet its sweeping narrative never drags. Concrete evidence of its impact: the film earned 10 Academy Award nominations, more than any other Netflix original in 2019. The Irishman proves that streaming can sustain a 209-minute film with the heft of traditional cinema, using its leisurely pace to underscore how time erodes power and loyalty—a thematic depth that sets it apart.