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'De Palma': A Cinematic Master Plays Himself

Perhaps the first time I became aware of director Brian De Palma's reputation was from reading MAD Magazine as a kid in the late 80s. There was a single-panel cartoon of a man firing a handgun several times, each shot emanating the onamonapeia "DE PALMA! DE PALMA! DE PALMA!"

I already knew his name at that time from multiple viewings of the edited-for-TV version of Carrie, which I found riveting for a variety of unwholesome reasons.

His films are riddled with moments that provoke the viewer to utter -- in utter astonishment -- exclamations along the lines of "Holy cow!"

In fact, that exact two-word phrase is one the director himself uses multiple times in the irresistible documentary about his career, co-directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid And The Whale, Francis Ha) and Jake Paltrow.

The film contains just one talking head throughout -- De Palma himself. And he touches on just about every film he's ever made.

Some of them are easily recognizable to mass audiences: Scarface, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible.

Others irked Hollywood to no end; the very films that deeply endeared him to fans and legendary film critic and De Palma defender Pauline Kael: Dressed To Kill, Body Double and the exquisite Blow Out.

His old buddies have received far more attention, success and acclaim: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola.

And let's face it -- he's responsible for Robert De Niro's career, casting him in his three earliest screen appearances, two of which in the lead. In fact, De Palma is so lovably candid that he can't withhold an anecdote about chiding De Niro for not learning his lines while making The Untouchables.

As a devout fan of the man, De Palma is essential viewing. And if this would've been my introduction to the guy as a kiddo, I would've been scouring the TV listings for his movies to record with my family's battered VCR.

De Palma is currently playing at Minneapolis' Lagoon Cinema.

~Stephen Swanson

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