“Part of the power of Joe Pesci's performance in The Irishman derives from external factors. It's been 20 years since the Oscar-winning actor announced his retirement from full-time screen acting, with only brief film and TV appearances in the meantime. So his august visage throughout Martin Scorsese's latest crime epic is immediately startling, especially for those who have missed him since his '90s acting heyday.
“Even more jolting than his aged appearance, though, is how different his character in The Irishman is from the eruptive hotheads he memorably played for Scorsese in Goodfellas and Casino. Russell Bufalino is essentially a family man, albeit one with a wary and calculating streak who's willing to exercise tough love when he feels a member of his family is acting in an untoward manner. When Russell gets angry, he internalizes it, which makes the moments he threatens to erupt all the more unsettling in light of the fatherly demeanor he emanates elsewhere.
“Pesci isn't really in The Irishman all that much compared to his costars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and Steven Zaillian's screenplay (adapted from Charles Brandt's narrative nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses) doesn't offer a whole lot about Bufalino's backstory. But though the film may be focused on Frank Sheeran (De Niro) and his ultimately wasted life, it's Pesci who, in his relatively limited screen time, provides the film's heart and soul. The Irishman finds Scorsese in world-weary, contemplative mode, and that sense of melancholic rumination is etched in every single gesture and line reading of Pesci's performance. Pesci exudes the aura of a man who's seen a lot of violence in his lifetime, absorbed it, made an uneasy peace with it, and perhaps is trying to be as good a man as he can be under the circumstances.
“That's what makes his final scenes in prison so devastating. While Sheeran remains mostly stoic and opaque even in his twilight years, Bufalino, debilitated by a recent stroke and one step closer to the grave, gives poignant voice to the regret he feels about the outcome of the Jimmy Hoffa situation (Sheeran having been forced to do the bidding of their bosses and take out his dear friend). It's fitting that the last time we see Bufalino is of him being wheeled into a church: He now only has only his god to answer to for his sins. Based on the more mundane way we leave Sheeran—alone in a nursing home room, staring into space—that kind of atonement is something not even Sheeran seems willing to face.” ~ Kenji Fujishima
Best Supporting Performance – The Finalists:
1. Joe Pesci - The Irishman [342.5/30]
2. Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood [314/29]
3. Florence Pugh - Little Women [259.5/26]
4. Al Pacino - The Irishman [237.5/22]
5. Willem Dafoe - The Lighthouse [203.5/19]
6. Jennifer Lopez - Hustlers [194/19]
7. Song Kang-ho - Parasite [173.5/18]
8. Laura Dern - Marriage Story [163/17]
9. Margot Robbie - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood [127/13]
10. Da’Vine Joy Randolph - Dolemite Is My Name [102/12]
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