De Palma

This is my favourite type of documentary -- a director just discussing his own work without attaching a long biography.

Little tastes of all that De Palma reminding you all that he was once so so so so so so so so so PRETTY GOOD.

Cliff being lazy in Obsession, the split-screen not used in Carrie, asking Stone to leave Scarface's shooting, the way he did Bonfire (obeying the execs), Raising Cain being a home movie the time he was married to Gale, seeing Carlito's and thinking he just can't direct better than that, the tsunami finale he couldn't use in Snake, Femme Fatale being his return to form after the type of movie he will never do again (Mars). Too bad he's sitting a chair talking all this, like a DVD extra.

(MISSION TO MACKEREL)

One of the best docs about film. It covers all the films in De Palma's filmography and naturally spends more time with the most famous ones from the 70-80's. De Palma comes across as really down to earth; talking hones about his influences, collaborators and the mistakes. Occasionally, he is clearly talking to the filmmakers and that might be the reason for his bluntness. The biggest compliment is that the doc makes you seek out the films that you haven't seen in a long time for re-appraisal.

Viewed June 20, 2016. Brian De Palma was one of my first favorite filmmakers. This quietly brilliant documentary quickly reminded me why. It's in the specificity of his vision, his wry sense of humor, his not-give-a-fuck style of filmmaking and living, and in the overwhelming amount of intelligence that fills every frame (Oh, of course the drill in Body Double was that big! How else would you see it come through the floor?). It becomes, in its own way, life-affirming.

Some interesting anecdotes, and De Palma's own explanation about his process of creating suspense toward the end is good, but it would have been more interesting if the directors pushed him further more consistently and/or if critics and commentators were included to share their points of view, especially as De Palma's critical reputation has improved dramatically since his salad days.

De Palma gives a film-by-film overview of his career. Some really great anecdotes from one of my favourite directors.

Interesting and more to De Palma's career than thought

If you want critical analysis of film and film history, this won't be the thing you are looking for. For fans of the filmmaker, this serves as ground for some great stories with unabashed thoughts on his own work. Incredibly interesting.

This is a fascinating look at the films of Brian De Palma. De Palma himself goes through his entire filmography. If you are fan of any of his films you should check this movie out.

De Palma is not much more than a conversation with polarizing director Brian De Palma accompanied by brilliantly chosen clips from the films that make up the rollercoaster of his remarkable career. Oh, but what a conversation -- juicy, jolting, maddening, exasperating and indelibly informative. Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrowe haven't gathered a bunch of talking heads to debate De Palma's significance. They just put the man himself on camera, mic him up and let him rip.

Not my favorite director but his candidness is refreshing. As others have mentioned this feels like a DVD commentary add on, some zazz wouldn't have hurt anyone.

For fans of De Palma only. This movie reveals next to nothing about the man save some anecdotes that inspired scenes in his movies. He's not my favourite filmmaker, but objectively he is a deft and remarkable one. If anything, it's whetted my appetite for those on his repertoire that I've missed. Let the De Palmathon begin..

A worthwhile endeavour for De Palma completists, but as a subject, it's frustrating that De Palma himself doesn't dig as deeply into his influences as you might like, instead leading us through an overview of 'greatest hits' from most of his great movies, but not supplying much more insight than you would find in a standard EPK DVD feature. Perhaps additional talking heads could have supplemented this (or even Baumbach and Paltrow themselves?)

Rushes through the master's filmography as if nobody learned anything from his techniques of hypnotically and suspensefully slowing down time.