How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 15: Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Paradise is Brian De Palma's rock opera take on the Phantom of the Opera. Released in 1974, it updates the location from an old Opera house to the modern setting of a rock club, smartly satirizing the sleazy ways that music producers gain fame and fortune in the business. De Palma's style fits perfectly with clever homages to classic horror movies while also being steeped in 1970s fashion. 

In the film, an unknown composer named Winslow (William Finley) has his beloved music stolen by a satanic-like music producer named Swan (Paul Williams, who also scored and wrote lyrics for the music heard in the film). Winslow is driven mad by this abuse and ends up jailed after trying to break into Swan's palace in order to be recognized for his work. He eventually escapes from jail, and in an attempt to destroy all the pressings of his stolen work, ends up shot and disfigured. He slowly drags his body into a river where officials consider him dead. However Winslow later emerges, and donning a cape and mask, sets out to get his revenge by terrorizing the artists in Swan's new club The Paradise, especially those who dare to perform his stolen work. That is, everyone except for Phoenix (Jessica Harper), a young and beautiful singer who Winslow (now The Phantom) feels is perfectly suited for his work.

Just about everything in the film worked for me. It has a great sense of humor, especially when it comes to Beef, a menacing singer that Swan sets up to be his newest star. The reveal of how Beef behaves when not on stage is fantastic and helps give the film a witty edge instead of falling in too dark territory. I find myself saying this a lot about De Palma's work but the film feels very ahead of it's time. The film could be released today and other than some needed fashion updates, it would seem just as biting as it did back then. There are even nods to the use of technology to enhance someone's singing voice, something that must have been fairly "sci-fi" back in the 1970s. 

It's interesting going back and watch these De Palma films out of order. As I jump back and forth throughout his career, I can start to see growth in his work as he quickly became more confident and focused in what he wanted to do as a director. Phantom of the Paradise was released only 4 years after Hi, Mom! which still seemed very rough around the edges. However, with the back-to-back release of Sisters (1973) and this film, De Palma really stepped up into becoming what I consider to be one of the most innovative directors of the modern era. As with every other film I've seen by him so far, I highly recommend watching Phantom of the Paradise.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: The Music Industry is run by the devil.

Upcoming Titles:

- Carlito's Way

- The Manchurian Candidate

- Murder à la Mod

- To Catch a Thief

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 14: Scarface

Scarface

I had a feeling that Scarface would end up being my least favorite Brian De Palma movie to date. Released in 1983, Scarface is the story of Tony Montana (Al Pacino), a Cuban refugee who quickly rises to the top of the Miami drug trade. Respected by the higher-ups due to his hot temper and willingness to always say what's on his mind, Tony works his way up until he is the most powerful kingpin in town. However, as is expected of all movies focused on a criminal rising through the ranks, Tony's quick rise is cut short due to his increasing paranoia and desire to always want more. As a remake of a 1930s Gangster movie, Scarface is an excellent update to a quintessential American morality tale. However, while the movie itself works as a satire on 80s excess and flashiness, I ironically found the film to be just a bit too pedestrian, lacking the uniqueness that I've come to expect in De Palma's movies.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: Don't get high on your own supply.

Upcoming Titles:

- Carlito's Way

- Phantom of the Paradise

- The Manchurian Candidate

- To Catch a Thief

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 13: Hi, Mom!

Hi, Mom!

Hi, Mom! is a hard film to review since I'm still not entirely sure what it's supposed to be about. Released in 1980 and directed by Brian De Palma, Hi, Mom! follows Jon Rubin (Robert De Niro, reprising a role first seen in De Palm'a Greetings from '68) as he attempts to make a living in the film business. As with most satirical content from De Palma, Hi, Mom! is pitch black to the point where it becomes hard to gauge where the actual target is. It begins with Jon trying to break into the movie business by working for a big time porn distributer in New York City. Jon tries to convince the man that he can film people in the apartment building across from his room because people love watching others who don't know they are being filmed. Once he finally convinces him, I was ready for the type of basic Rear Window style Hitchcock homage that De Palma seems to love so much. The film however takes a few hard turns along the way that makes it one of the more experimental films I've seen in a while.

De Palma shoots the film in a very unique way, changing up the style to always match another device that someone can use to view others. It's a neat trick that I found fairly innovative for a film released in 1970. For example, when Jon is looking across the building using a telescope, the image on screen is reduced to a small circular area in the center of the screen. When he then upgrades to a video camera, the frame opens up a bit while also having the speed of the characters on screen increased to mimic the sped up look of most old films. Lastly, for scenes meant to mimic a TV show being watched, the images are larger but remain "boxed in" and become black and white, thus differentiating them from the usual scenes where we are not looking at something from the perspective of another character.

Another touch from De Palma was framing certain sections of the movie as if they were a TV show staring Jon Rubin as the main character. Scenes are given theme music and we sometimes come back to Jon Rubin with an onscreen recap in the manner of "meanwhile, back at Jon's apartment..." It's a funny device and furthered the feeling that Hi, Mom! was made much later than 1970. The whole film feels very ahead of it's time technically, despite having a story that's steeped in the turn of the decade culture from 1970. I couldn't help but keep thinking that this movie was an '80s production that was meant to evoke issues from 10 years prior, instead of it being what it is, which is an incredibly timely movie that must have been extremely controversial upon release.

This is another movie that is hard to discuss at length without resorting to spoilers. I will say however that the centerpiece of the film is something very unexpected and also very hard to watch. Using a cinéma vérité styled approach, we are forced to watch a drawn out sequence of an unsuspecting group of people becoming part of a anarchist group's plot to show what it's like to be a black person in America. For a film that starts off as a sly satire on how we view others, it takes an awfully abrupt turn to much darker territory that in itself ends up being used to setup what I feel is De Palma's main point for making the film. 

I was surprised when seeing this film that I hadn't heard about it sooner. It certainly has a lot of cool ideas and setups. It's also interesting to see how many of De Palma's usual themes are present but not yet fully cooked. I recommend this for anyone who hasn't seen it, but easily consider it a must see for fans of De Palma's work.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: Never go see experimental theater in New York City.

Upcoming Titles:

- Carlito's Way

- Phantom of the Paradise

- Scarface

- To Catch a Thief

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 12: Body Double

Body Double

Body Double is the movie where I finally decided that after it was over, I wanted to see everything that Brian De Palma has directed. While movies like Body Double may (rightfully) not be lumped in with De Palma's best work, it has a very specific style that I completely fell in love with. The movie works as a wonderful satire of the perception of his work being sex and violence obsessed. Every scene is layered with overtly sexual subtext, which seems to be goading on the critics who consider his films to be too violent again women. Luckily, the plot doesn't get too lost in the style, as the film ends up being a fairly successful story about a man who was born to play the witness.

The basic story of Body Double is that working actor Jake Scully (Craig Wasson), recently homeless after finding his girlfriend having sex with another man in his apartment, is asked to help housesit for fellow actor Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry) while he is off on an acting gig in another city. The apartment is an extremely lavish example of 80s excess, but the best part (as pointed out by Bouchard) is the view from the living room window. It seems that every night around midnight, the woman in the house across the way does a sexy striptease in her bedroom while keeping the blinds open, allowing our men to get a perfect view with the help of a strategically placed telescope. As Bouchard leaves for his acting gig, Scully begins to spend his nights watching the woman from afar, becoming obsessed with her every move.

What follows is a very Hitchcockiam thriller as Scully becomes entwined in a plot much larger than he bargained for. De Palma takes many of the strengths seen in Hitchcock's Rear Window and Vertigo and adds a healthy dose of sexual innuendo to make for a very interesting take on Hitchcock's "Everyman in danger" motif. While some say that De Palma simply steals too much from Hitchcock to be taken seriously as an original filmmaker, I disagree and would consider De Palma more of the heir who carried Hitchcock's love of suspense and terror and brought it up to date for a modern audience. Unlike Hitchcock however, De Palma's films seem to fall more into the style category whereas Hitchcock always seemed to balance style perfectly with story. However, considering that Body Double was released in a time when movies were becoming more about spectacle than substance, it's no surprise that De Palma went this route.

There's lots to chew on in Body Double as everything has a comically layered sexual subtext. One perfect example being Scully's claustrophobia that comes up at crucial moments in the film. On the surface, this seems to stem from a traumatic experience of getting stuck behind a freezer as a child. But within the context of the film's plot, it's obvious that this fear of deep dark spaces is another way that De Palma emasculates Scully by pointing out his subconscious inability to please other women. It's fascinating how De Palma frames these shots, making it almost a mockery of the way other movies use sex as a subconscious plot driver.

It's difficult to examine the rest of the film without diving into spoiler territory so I'll conclude by saying that I really liked this movie. I think it's a great example of a master of style being able to elevate a film that would otherwise be a fairly straightforward thriller. The acting may be a bit weak at times, but  everything else about the movie was so enjoyable that it didn't detract from my enjoyment. I also felt the film had a fairly convoluted ending, but considering the target that De Palma was aiming for, I think what may appear to be a near miss is in actuality a well executed hit. If you think the movie wants to be taken seriously, then simply look no further than the final scene played over the credits and you can easily picture De Palma gleefully toying with his critics.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: Watching porn will help you solve murders.

Upcoming Titles:

- Carlito's Way

- Phantom of the Paradise

- Scarface

- To Catch a Thief

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 11: Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly is a fantastic film. I went in knowing almost nothing about it, except that it was a quintessential film noir and was also the inspiration for the famous Glowing Briefcase in Pulp Fiction. It begins with standard fare, Private Eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker), picks up a hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman in her debut role) who says she escaped from a mental hospital. Eventually, thugs catch up to them and when Mike wakes up, the hitchhiker is dead and he's been in the hospital for quite some time. Being a private eye, Mike can't help but try to solve the mystery of why those men were after her, despite the trouble it starts costing those around him. 

The film surprised me in just how exciting it ended up being. What began as a normal noir tale ended in one of the more thrilling endings I've seen from a movie released in the 1950s. Similar to Hitchcock's Notorious from a decade early, it takes a basic thriller plot and blends it with the current fears of nuclear attacks. Only Kiss Me Deadly takes it a few wonderful steps further by making it more of a science fiction yarn than just basic bad guys out to make atomic bombs. I highly recommend checking this out.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: Never open the box.

Upcoming Titles:

- Carlito's Way

- To Catch a Thief

- Body Double

- Battle Royale

Important Movies Part 1: Pulp Fiction

Welcome to the first in a new series for Dave's Constant. I still plan on keeping the focus on movies that I go back and finally see, but I thought it might be fun to throw one of these up now and again. This series will be a little more personal as they won't focus on the movie itself. Instead, I wanted to share how I discovered some of the films that are most important to me as a movie geek. An important movie can mean many things. To me, it's the films that had the biggest impact on my life, whether as a life changing moment (2001: A Space Odyssey) or simply for the fact that it led me down a path I have since never left (Scream). These aren't the best movies ever made (and not even my favorite). They are simply a collection of the ones that have helped mold me into the person I am today. I hope you enjoy.

Pulp Fiction

I distinctly remember the first time I saw Pulp Fiction. Well, not the whole movie, but a part of it. I was about 9 or 10 years old and I was at my Grandparents' house. They had one of those TV black boxes* so I typically would see what movies were on Pay-Per-View when I was there to help pass the time. (It was either that or play with their electronic poker machine. They may have had a gambling addiction.) At that age, I would be on the look out for two types of movies, dumbed down comedies for kids or anything that had the possibility of including a boob.** I knew about Pulp Fiction and figured it had a pretty good chance of passing my second criteria for movies. 

Now before the onDemand days, the Pay-Per-View channels were setup so one channel would play the same movie on loop all day. So my plan was to wait until I was alone and "mistakenly" flip to that channel, hoping to see something cool.  When that time finally came, I put the channel on hoping to see something that explained why so many adults were talking about this movie. What I ended up seeing was John Travolta jamming a giant needle into some woman's chest. What the hell!? I had no idea what to do. I changed the channel back, but I couldn't stop replaying the image in my head. What was this movie anyway? Was it some weird sex scene I didn't understand yet? Was he killing that woman? The only thing I knew was the I wanted to see the rest of the movie.

Unfortunately, that moment didn't happen for quite some time. I sadly can't even pinpoint the first time I finally got to see the movie from beginning to end now. It was surely well before I could appreciate it though. However, I have seen it multiple times since and easily consider it one of my favorite movies of all time. In high school, Pulp Fiction was the movie that really became the jumping off point as far as me becoming a movie geek for life. At the time, it simply meant watching all of the current movies that were out in theaters, but as I grew older, that love grew into something much bigger. Now, I view movies as something much more important than a simple 90 min. mental break. Movies are now a part of my everyday life. I like thinking that the seed for all this was seeing John Travolta shove that needle right into Uma Thurman's chest.


You're Welcome, 
Dave

*Please don't arrest my entire family!

**Side note: This was also around the age where I would get excited every week to get the TV guide so I could figure out what movies on HBO had "N" or "AC" next to their titles. I would usually get excited but then not be able to stay awake that late to see the movie. I had a sad childhood.