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‘Femme Fatale’ is De Palma’s looniest neo-noir, and also his best

A sexy thief strips a woman of her golden underwear as her cohort collects them from the other side of the bathroom stall at Cannes. That the absurd, amusing, and schlocky sexuality of the opening heist in Femme Fatale comes from the mind of director Brian De Palma is hardly surprising.

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‘Body Double’ is an exploration, exaltation and condemnation of trash culture

It is obvious that Body Double (1984) is a combination of the plots of Vertigo (1958), Rear Window (1954) and Dial M for Murder (1955) by Alfred Hitchcock, and nearly as obvious to say that the film also takes cues from Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom (1960) and elements from various slasher films like Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (1979). Unfortunately, a good number of critical pieces on Brian De Palma are obsessed with listing off his influences and coming to the inept conclusion that he is merely a Hitchcock imitator with a couple of clever cinematic tricks up his sleeve. Few writers take De Palma on his own terms, though select critics are finally coming around, and most ignore the way he constructs his complex thriller narratives, creates exquisite images that take advantage of cinema’s unique artistic properties, and underscores his films with dissenting politics. Body Double features all of these elements and more, making this film one of De Palma’s finest and most entertaining in his extensive filmography.

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‘Blow Out’ and ‘Blowup’: examining two masterpieces

Please note that the following piece contains spoilers for the final act of Blow Out. Taken at face value Blow Out, Brian De Palma’s 1981 film, is a nifty and tightly wound little thriller. It starts to run into some trouble, however, when compared to Michelangelo Antonioni’s seminal counter culture classic Blowup (1966), the film …

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De Palma’s ‘The Fury’ is dominated by one incredible set-piece after another

The Fury Written by John Farris Directed by Brian De Palma USA, 1978 In this action-suspense picture packed with paranormal activity, Kirk Douglas plays government agent Peter Sandza, whose telepathic son (Andrew Stevens) has been kidnapped by his colleague Ben Childress (John Cassavetes), working for a CIA-like secret government agency that plans to exploit the …

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De Palma’s ‘Carlito’s Way’ is a different kind of gangster film

Carlito’s Way Written by David Koepp Directed by Brian De Palma 1993, USA In the upper echelon of gangster pictures, peopled with the likes of Goodfellas, Scarface, The Godfather, and Casino, there are forgotten gems that are often ignored. Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way is one such diamond in the genre’s rough. This is a film …

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