"The Irishman" isn't "The Irishman"
Monday, December 2, 2019 at 10:30AM 
by Cláudio Alves
Martin Scorsese's latest magnum opus is an epic in most senses of the word. It's one of the master's most dense exercises, using biography as a vehicle to explore the great social transformations of post-war American Society. The Irishman is a portrait of Death as an ever-encroaching certainty, a treatise on the painful passage of time and a theatre of memory where the spiritedness of youth is curdled by the self-image of the old men who revisit it.
That's heavy stuff but here's something lighter: As the film's very credits show, this gargantuan feat of cinema isn't called The Irishman at all…
Netflix's promotional machine might say otherwise, but Martin Scorsese's latest is titled I Heard You Paint Houses. That's the name of the book upon which the film is based and the words that flash on-screen twice. First, at the beginning of the three-and-a-half-hour epic, in little bursts that recall the audacious ways of the Nouvelle Vague brats. Secondly, it returns at the very end of the thing, after one of Scorsese's most powerful last shots. Sure, this second coming is accompanied by the dreaded The Irishman, but it's obvious which name the filmmakers involved are signaling as the piece's real title.
At the moment, we don't know why The Irishman isn't officially called I Heard You Paint Houses but it's easy to speculate. After all, the venomous banalization of film tittles is a widespread disease among Hollywood studios and worldwide distributors. Remember when the beautiful Can A Song Save Your Life? was rebaptized as the terminally generic Begin Again? Perhaps something like that happened to I Heard You Paint Houses, an evocative title that may have been deemed too weird by clueless committee of executives.
Which title do you prefer?
Reader Comments (18)
I heard you paint houses (in one solitary color)
Cop Gives Waitress 2 Million Dollar Tip > It Could Happen to You
Totally agree. I'm glad that some filmmakers don't go the banal route, like the animated film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Such Beauty.
Search for the italian title of Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind and get ready to jump out of the window
There's obviously nothing wrong with something being called The Irishman, even this film.
But I Heard You Paint Houses makes me think of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? The kind of title you'd hear from late in the 60s or throughout the 70s.
Also very cool.
Oh I lament the passing of the days of 'Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?'
I was confused when I saw the two titles in the film. Can they do that? Can the name of the movie change? If the answer is no, why are they using the (far better) title?
Yes, it's weird. I Heard You Paint Houses is enormous on screen both times, while The Irishman is smaller and a bit sheepish
I lived this about the film- Scorsese et. al. telling us what they believe the film to actually be called. The only similar thing I can currently think of is Edge of Tomorrow using the marketing and much better tag line “Live. Die. Repeat.” as it’s de facto title.
I agree with most of the comments in lamentation about the neutering of interesting film names (the shortening of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF EURIDICE GUSMAO to INVISIBLE LIFE is another recent example).
But I did have a revelation a few years ago as to why studios do this, when quite respected and learned-in-the-realm-of-film friends of mine complained about the "strange' film title VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS. Despite what you feel about he move itself, the title was fantastic. I am yet to decide whether the studios are responding to this or they actually created it, but still...
For a movie The Irishman is better because it's intriguing, with I Heard You Paint Houses sounding comical, lightweight, and great for a book. The film market and the book market are very different environments and each one has its own rules. It happens more often than we think.
FILM - Book
SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) - Schindler's Ark
DIE HARD (1988) - Nothing Lasts Forever
BLADE RUNNER (1982) - Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?
TOTAL RECALL (1990) - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
FIELD OF DREAMS (1989) - Shoeless Joe
BABE (1995) - The Sheep-Pig
GOODFELLAS (1990) - Wiseguy
FULL METAL JACKET (1987) - The Short-Timers
LOVE, SIMON (2018) - Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
SUSPICION (1941) - Before The Fact
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) - The Greatest Gift
2001: The SPACE ODISSEY (1968) - The Sentinel
PRECIOUS (2009) - Push
THE NET (2010) - The Accidental Billionaires
MRS DOUBTFIRE (1993) - Alias Madame Doubtfire
PP -- That is horrid, indeed.
In Portugal, it's called O Despertar da Mente (The Awakening of the Mind). It's a pity since the Brazillian title makes a much better job of capturing the original's allure. In Brazil, it's Brilho Eterno de Uma Mente Sem Lembranças (Eternal Shine of a Mind Without Memories).
Melchiades: Good list - though you cheated with Precious, which is actually called Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire!
Travis C: I loved Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but the title struck me as odd, given that it's based on a comic series called Valerian and Laureline; I couldn't see why the film mentioned Valerian in the title but not Laureline, given that the characters have equal prominence (a real co-lead movie!).
What's the aspect ratio for this film? I saw it in theaters last week and now thinking of getting the second viewing via my GF's Netflix, but where are the bars? I read that it's shot in 1.37:1, as well as 1.85:1.
Which is it? How am I supposed to watch this?
This is why Netflix is a bullshit thing.
Was DeNiro supposed to be Irish in this movie? That character certainly wasn’t Irish to me.
Netflix mystifies me.
Not me. AGAIN. It's getting tiresome, really.
I don't understand why you use my nick just to say THAT
"Pacific Air 121" was supposed to be the title, until Star Samuel L. Jackson intervened and said, "*&(^ that. This movie is 'SNAKES ON A PLANE', Mutha(&^^ers!!!!"
... or something to that effect.