Almost exactly a year ago I saw "Truffaut/Hitchcock" and wrote a post about seeing it, and mentioned I was shocked not seeing Brian De Palma as one of the many directors interviewed, because he more than any other director channels a lot of Hitchcock in his movies. I later read that he didn't do that documentary because he was involved with someone making a documentary just about him and his work.
So I just watched "De Palma", this very documentary...
And it is amazing. And interesting. And educational. So many documentaries about artists just want you to accept that their subject is an innovator. "De Palma" breaks it down and shows you why he is. Every film snob benefits from listening to a talented film maker explain his craft. One who can really explain why he likes exceptionally long shots, certain split dioptre shots, and of course multiple Hitchcock references.
Of note, his first film starred Robert DeNiro in his very first film. Sissy Spacek's very first role, was in his "Carrie", which was the first Stephen King adaptation. He jokes about how there have been so many version of Carrie made, that he can finally show to people why he did things differently as they make the mistakes that he argued with the studio to let him do it his way.
His section on Scarface is amazing, because he talks about having to have Oliver Stone removed from the set because this 'writer who had directed just one bad horror film' was trying to tell him how to direct his actors. And how Spielberg visited the set and helped find angles to shoot the final shoot out.
He has a few stories about Sean Penn that are amazing. He makes a good tribute to Bernard Hermann who scored all his earliest work.
It's really good because as he goes through his filmography, he talks about things he learned along the way, and has no problem stating what was the weakest or best part of each picture. He actually has a lot to say that even a lot of fans of his work probably never heard before. This isn't a studio made documentary aimed at getting easy views by talking about his classic films, and having much more famous directors or actors talk about their time with the man. It is De Palma himself the whole time, and it gives his more obscure, offbeat projects get as much attention as his signature films.
He doesn't just cover up his failures by talking about studio battles, but brings up things he wish he had done differently, or he just couldn't make work. You can see the sadness in his face when he talks about a movie that wasn't a big hit, even though it had big stars, followed a successful blueprint, and all he can think is that he couldn't possibly make a better film than he did. (He felt he could never make a better film than "Carlito's Way".)
He hung out with Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, and other big name directors. While his filmmaking friends have all at one time or another been household names, De Palma's never quite gotten the deep examination he's deserved.
As for the Hitchcock documentary, Brian De Palma didn't make himself available for that Kent Jones' pic because he wanted to reserve his comments about Hitchcock for this film. He isn't shy about his admiration for Hitchcock, and states rather audaciously that he feels he is the only true heir to the master. He also says with a lot of arrogance that Hitchcock and probably no other director ever made any truly great films before they were thirty or after they were fifty.
I will say it feels a little weak the way it ends, but then again, so does his filmography after 1996.
