advertisement

Movie review: De Palma talks about De Palma in ‘De Palma'

Even if you don't recognize his name, you know of, and have surely seen, some of his films. In an almost four-decade career, Brian De Palma has directed ... here, let me pick just a few: "Carrie, "Scarface," "The Untouchables," and "Mission: Impossible." There are an additional 25 features to his credit (so far), along with a 1984 MTV staple, Bruce Springsteen's video of "Dancing in the Dark."

In the feature-length documentary "De Palma," the prolific director sits back, totally relaxed, shot in medium-closeup, and chats candidly about his life and his work. We never hear a word from the documentary's directors, Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow (Baumbach is best known for "The Squid and the Whale," Paltrow made a batch of "NYPD Blue" episodes). It's just De Palma talking and talking.

At first there are revelations like how excited he was the first time he saw "Vertigo," and what went down when he met and eventually kick-started the career of Robert De Niro, who starred in De Palma's early features (the scruffy duo of "The Wedding Party" and "Greetings" and the scruffy and terrific "Hi, Mom!").

He also tosses in stories of how much he admired, and still admires Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg, and how difficult it was to direct a less-than-mindful Orson Welles in his early comedy "Get to Know Your Rabbit," the intriguing plot of which is: A successful executive (Tom Smothers) becomes fed up with the rat race, so he walks out on the job and goes to school to become a tap-dancing magician. The school is run by Welles. Without batting an eye, De Palma admits to his many critical and box office failures, telling of them with honesty and self-deprecating humor, and mentioning that the fact that some of them failed was terribly disappointing to him.

There were also critical and box office hits, some of which are listed in the first paragraph. But there's no sense of braggadocio when he talks about these. He's just tossing off more stories, like when he casually mentions that his rock-horror musical "Phantom of the Paradise" (rent this movie, tonight, and turn it up loud) was made a year before "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or that he helped his pal Martin Scorsese edit "Mean Streets."

Well, maybe there's a hint of blowing his own horn when, while talking about the infamous "hand from the grave" shocker in the closing moments of "Carrie," he just as casually says, "That was one of the great endings." But it's almost as if he's talking about someone else's movie.

De Palma comes across here as an "aw shucks" kind of guy. When he gets excited about a memory of what happened on one set or another, he blurts out, "Holy mackerel!," and does so five or six times throughout the film.

Of course, when a film is made about a filmmaker, there's plenty of opportunity to show exactly what he's talking about, and Baumbach and Paltrow are generous with clips from his films, whether it's Al Pacino introducing his "little friend" in "Scarface," Sissy Spacek literally bringing down the house on her tormentors in "Carrie," or Michael J. Fox looking genuinely uncomfortable acting opposite Sean Penn in "Casualties of War." And according to De Palma, Penn was a jerk to Fox on the set.

Because his films and his stories about them are presented chronologically, a picture is painted of how he started and has progressed. Along with the satisfying feeling of listening to an artist who loves what he does, De Palma in "De Palma" also offers up a fascinating look at the movie making machine. He's been there as an indie director, and he's worked for the biggest studios in Hollywood. His insight is invaluable, and this film should get lots of new viewers to check out his older stuff. For the record, "Get to Know Your Rabbit" remains my favorite.

— Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.

"De Palma"

Directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow

With Brian De Palma and lots of film clips

Rated R