De Palma a la Mod

The Criterion Collection today posted Carlos Reygadas's top ten Criterion Collection films. Coming in at number nine on Reygadas's list is Brian De Palma's Blow Out. "As I said, I love filmmakers who struggle," says Reygadas about his choice, "and I’ve always gotten the feeling that De Palma struggles. I feel in his work that there’s something awkward, something that is not flowing easily, and that makes me watch the film from a different perspective. In Blow Out, the storyline is very pristine, there’s nothing distracting, and you get to see and observe all the details in a special way. There’s a lot of information in his films, but like Tati, it’s all at a deeper layer. You could see a De Palma film and think it’s very ordinary, but if you see it more than once, it always gets better."

Posted by Geoff at 11:25 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, August 12, 2019 11:26 PM CDT
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Wednesday, August 14, 2019 - 4:25 PM CDT

Name: "Mr Pity"

I have to watch Blow Out and Scarface again to realize what a great director De Palma was after viewing the amateurish Domino. One of the worst scripts De Palma has worked with since Mission To Mars. Badly directed, badly acted, badly shot, some scenes are way too short and too many coincidences strains credibility. Domino is downright bad. Simply put I don't think De Palma will ever make another film after this embarassment. A sad way to finish an amazing career.

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Thursday, August 15, 2019 - 5:13 PM CDT

Name: "Jeremy Foley"

I didn't expect to read this from Reygadas, someone who has shunned mainstream and mainstream-ish films, but it's an unexpected pleasure to see one of my favourite filmmakers praising another of my favourites

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Friday, August 16, 2019 - 5:39 AM CDT

Name: "Dr. Nix"

I think most of De Palma's films (Domino included) have multiple layers of meaning and complexity, that you peel back the more times you watch the film in question. This is the case especially with his thrillers, which you can enjoy on the surface as a straightforward thriller but there's always something underneath, whether it is commentating on the art of filmmaking/techniques or exploring his recurring auteur themes, or commentating on politics and the state of the world (fear/paranoia/conspiracy) at the time. These are all themes you could definitely apply to Domino and Blowout.

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Friday, August 16, 2019 - 7:25 PM CDT

Name: "Harry Georgatos"

With DOMINO De Palma reminds me of the Urban terrorist Joe Rubin in Hi,MOM! who infiltrates mainstream society and blows up buildings disguized as an ordinary citizen. De Palma with DOMINO can be seen as a film terrorist infiltrating mainstream cinema to subvert Hollywood blockbusters. The Islamist propaganda videos in DOMINO is basically De Palma the director orchestrating the role of the filmmaker in the production of these videos. The film festival massacre can be seen as the death of cinema or it can be seen as the industry no longer returning De Palma's calls. Everything is up for interpretations with De Palma films.

I hope Mr Pity is wrong and De Palma has one or two films in him. DOMINO may not be De Palma's best but all his trademarks are there.

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