“THE Irishman,” Martin Scorsese’s reunion with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci and first collaboration with Al Pacino, opened the 57th New York Film Festival on Friday night.

The epic crime drama seems a strong bet to resonate with members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, many of whom were in attendance at its unveiling.

Rebecca Keegan with the Hollywood Reporter tweeted that “The Irishman” is 76-year-old Scorsese’s version of Clint Eastwood’s 1992 classic “Unforgiven” — essentially, an aging filmmaker long associated with a genre — in this case, crime — using that genre to show how a person — both the filmmaker and his principal character — can come to see things differently as he ages and looks back at his life with perspective, and maybe a little regret.

Adapted from Charles Brandt’s book by Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”), the film has been a passion project for Scorsese and De Niro — who first worked together 46 years ago on “Mean Streets,” which also played at the New York Film Fest, and last worked together 24 years ago on “Casino,” which also starred Pesci — since 2007. It’s a time-hopping examination of more than a half-century in the life of Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a crime world figure who was closely associated with Russell Bufalino (Pesci), “The Quiet Don” on Pennsylvania, and with the mob-entangled Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). And it was only possible thanks to new reverse-aging technology created by ILM specifically for the film.

As the awards season progresses, “The Irishman” will face a number of challenges. For one thing, its three-and-a-half-hour runtime could deter some from even checking it out. For another, it was financed and will be distributed by Netflix, which remains a divisive company — although the streamer is giving this film a fairly substantial theatrical release starting Nov. 1 before dropping it on the service in time for Thanksgiving. For yet another, the Academy has never really embraced crime movies  — with the notable exception, 13 years ago, of Scorsese’s “The Departed,” which some suspected at the time was his crime-genre swan song.

(SD-Agencies)