This is a solid documentary on Brian De Palma's career, which it follows comprehensively and in chronological order. De Palma is the only person interviewed; he is an honest, engaging narrator, and the visual cues taken from his movies are usually well-chosen. It leaves a bittersweet aftertaste, though, because De Palma seems still hurt on a personal level that some of his films that meant the most to him and he also feels were among his most accomplished ("Blow Out", "Casualties of War", "Carlito's Way") were not box-office hits, while an impersonal project like "Mission: Impossible" brought in the big bucks. Interesting also to observe how intensely "Dressed To Kill" or "Body Double" were attacked at the time as "repulsive" for a single scene of violence each, two decades before the invention of the torture-porn genre where there is nothing BUT scenes of violence. De Palma is one of the last major directors to put his own stamp in his films. Beware: this doc DOES spoil some of his best endings, so it's probably better to see it after you've seen most of his work. *** out of 4.
Review of De Palma
