Still on the fence about whether or not The Irishman is for you? Well, let Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro‘s review of Martin Scorsese‘s latest film starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci persuade you. The film stars De Niro as Frank Sheeran, a mob heavy whose work in the latter half of the 20th century leads him to possible involvement in the murder of Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).

The film is coming to theaters before taking its rightful place on Netflix and already garnering serious awards season buzz for all involved. But The Irishman is also clocking in at a reported 3+ hours and some unusual digital de-aging of the three leads which might test even the most die-hard Scorsese or De Niro fans. On the heels of The Irishman‘s debut at the 2019 New York Film Festival, del Toro has now offered up arguably the most insightful and sensitive reading of The Irishman that damn near proves this movie is a must-see.

Del Toro comes out of the gate hot, comparing The Irishman to Stanley Kubrick‘s Barry Lyndon in a tweet thread comprised of 13 individually dense and intriguing observations. He begins, writing, “[The Irishman] is about lives that came and went, with all their turmoil, all their drama and violence and noise and loss… and how they invariably fade, like we all do…”

1/13: 13 Tweets about Scorsese's The Irishman: First- the film connects with the epitaph-like nature of Barry Lyndon. It is about lives that came and went, with all their turmoil, all their drama and violence and noise and loss… and how they invariably fade, like we all do… — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019

It should surprise no one at this point that the man behind such dark and sensitively-drawn delights as The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth would see the beauty in a grim crime saga which actively interrogates toxic masculinity and legacies of violence that play out in such a world. He refers to the movie as a “mausoleum of myths” and goes on to call it the “anti ‘My Way'”: “The road cannot be undone and we all face the balance at the end.”

Bleak? Yes. But does it ring painfully true and manage to pique curiosity about how The Irishman actually achieves this end result? Hell yes.

4/13 It’s the anti”My Way” (played in every gangster wedding in the world). Regrets they had more than few. The road cannot be undone and we all face the balance at the end. Even the voice over recourse has DeNiro trailing off into mumbled nonsense- — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019

Del Toro also finds space to speak on Pesci and De Niro’s performances, specifically. Not that either actor needs the warm thoughts (their respective, towering careers certainly speak for themselves), but the high praise coming from del Toro in his Twitter thread review reminds us why these men are great actors and helps stir up some excitement to seem them on screen together once more.

9/13 Pesci supremely minimalistic. Masterful. He is like a black hole- an attractor of planets- dark matter. DeNiro has always fascinated me when he plays characters that are punching above their true weight – or intelligence- That’s why I love him in so much Jackie Brown- — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019

Del Toro caps his Twitter thread with an order for us all: “See it. In a theatre. This movie languished in development in studio vaults for so long… having it here, now, is a miracle. And, btw- fastest 3 hours in a cinema. Do not miss it.”

13/13 See it. In a theatre. This movie languished in development in studio vaults for so long… having it here, now, is a miracle. And, btw- fastest 3 hours in a cinema. Do not miss it. — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) September 30, 2019

Make sure to read our NYFF review of The Irishman and check out our additional coverage of the film. The Irishman arrives on November 27, 2019.