‘De Palma’ Documentary Review

“Being a director is being a watcher,” says Brian De Palma in the documentary ‘De Palma.’  Directed by Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, Mistress America) and Jake Paltrow (Young Ones), It is an insightful tutorial on filmmaking.  There are no talking heads, actors nor fellow directors pouring out their appreciation and respect for the auteur.  It is simply De Palma on De Palma.  He delivers monologues on his extensive filmography in chronological order.  As he discusses the highs and lows of each film, clips from his movies intercut on the screen.  It is fascinating to listen to him talk about his body of work.  ‘De Palma’ is essential cinema for aspiring filmmakers and diehard fans.

De Palma starts off by giving credit to Alfred Hitchcock, the main influence on his film career.  Baumbach and Paltrow accentuate the importance with a scene from ‘Vertigo.’  He emulates the way Hitchcock so masterfully created a romantic illusion and then would kill it.  He learned several filmmaking techniques the Master of Suspense implemented such as blocking, cutting, tracking and lighting to create his unique voyeuristic style.  He’s made 29 feature films.  Some have been huge box office successes (The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible) and others have been disappointing failures (The Bonfire of the Vanities).  De Palma’s films have helped launch the careers of such actors as Robert De Niro, John Travolta and Sissy Spacek (nominated as Best Actress for Carrie).

Growing up in Philadelphia, De Palma was a science nerd when he began studying physics and math at Columbia.  After making a few notable short films, his first feature film in 1963 titled ‘The Wedding Party’ is remembered for casting the unknown actor by the name of Robert De Niro.  When De Niro became famous, De Palma jokingly talks about luring the actor with an attractive salary to play mob boss Al Capone in ‘The Untouchables.’  After signing on for the role, he had to deal with the actor not learning his lines.  Whether they were temperamental or miscast, De Palma always speaks about his leads with the utmost respect and a sense of humor.  It’s engaging as he dissects and demystifies the filmmaking process.  He talks about his bumpy film career recognizing first and foremost that it is an industry driven by box office numbers.

The behind-the-scenes anecdotes make ‘De Palma’ priceless.   Looking back at the cult favorite ‘Scarface,’ he talks about how the over-the-top ending came to be.  Al Pacino picked up a prop machine gun by the barrel and burned his hand.  Out for two weeks, De Palma wanted to keep the production going and kept the cameras rolling for the film’s big shoot-out.  In another musing, he talks about how he wanted Sean Penn to get angrier in ‘Casualties of War.’  Before shooting the scene between him and  Michael J. Fox, he whispered “television actor” in Penn’s ear.  The smile on De Palma’s face says it all.  He was pleased with the outcome.  When he talks about ‘Carrie’ (Sissy Spacek was not his first choice), he praises her work and why it is one of his seminal works. He takes great delight in several ‘Carrie’ remakes because you get “to see them make all the mistakes you avoided.”

It’s fun to watch De Palma deconstruct his career.  One of the earliest champions of his work was legendary film critic Pauline Kael.  There is a telling photo of De Palma alongside his director friends Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  It’s bittersweet because his bumpy career prevents him from taking a permanent seat with these iconic directors.  You don’t have to love De Palma’s films to find this documentary fascinating.  It is like taking a master class tour of a controversial artist’s body of work. Ultimately, what you take away from the documentary is a filmmaker that was never afraid to take artistic risks for his love of cinema.