Review of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) by Ayrton C — 21 Nov 2017

I'm not totally sure there's a "point" to this film, despite taking 3.5 hours luxuriating in its own world and characters, it comes off like an absurdly long character study of a particularly unworthy subject.

But on a technical level - acting, period set recreation, writing, camera direction, score etc. - this film is essentially flawless. It's a little hard, all this time later, to not feel like you're watching a narrative you've seen before, just with different characters; luckily the way Leone plays with time and shows the span of several decades distinguishes it a bit from other films of its ilk.

Quite good, overall, but I think a bit overpraised.