Killers of the Flower Moon premiered at Cannes on Saturday, and immediately everyone is raving about Lily Gladstone, AS THEY SHOULD. Variety ponders her Oscar odds—long way to go, but fingers crossed!—and calls the film “the birth of a star”. I mean, sure, NOW, if you’re LATE to the LILY PARTY, but I was here back in 2016 with Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, in which Lily Gladstone is an absolutely devastating revelation as a repressed ranch hand. Welcome to the Lily Party, mainstream entertainment press, I have been here for SEVEN YEARS, and I drank all the punch and ate most of the pie, you only get LEFTOVERS, but glad to have you here now. Lily Gladstone deserves all the flowers.

 

Gladstone looked incredible at the premiere, in a bold Valentino print and with spectacular earrings by Native jewelry designer Jamie Okuma. Gladstone always uses her red carpet appearances to rep Indigenous designers (Tantoo Cardinal and the other Indigenous actors, including Tatanka Means, Jillian Dion, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, and Yancey Red Corn were also rocking fabulous Native fashions all weekend). It was a good fashion weekend for Gladstone all the way around. She looked great at the photocall earlier on Saturday in a capelet and another fantastic pair of beaded earrings, and she wore a dreamsicle orange dress to a reception hosted by Apple on Sunday, ushering in summer pastels perfectly. 

As for the film itself, reviews are overwhelmingly positive with many people praising Gladstone’s performance, in particular. My concern for this film, though, was never about acting, it has always been about who is telling this story and what blind spots might come into play. Jim Gray, a former chief of the Osage Nation, addressed his personal connection to the story and involvement with the film, which is encouraging.

 

Killers shut down production during the pandemic, and in a silver lining situation, it gave Scorsese and his co-writer, Eric Roth, time to rework the script to include greater influence from the Osage, which can only strengthen the storytelling, incorporating more personal perspectives on this massive injustice perpetrated against the Osage, which is still reverberating today. I am encouraged by the early buzz for the film, especially everyone singing Lily Gladstone’s praises. But I still have some hesitation, which won’t be put to rest until I see it for myself. For now, I am content with Lily Gladstone owning the Croisette and winning over the audience with her much deserved and long overdue mainstream breakout.