Winston*
12-02-2007, 06:35 AM
http://cansesclasseled.com/images/dailydepalma07.jpg
This is a screenshot of the movie Hi Mom! I have posted it because it relates to my review of the movie Hi Mom! seen below.
Hi Mom!
De Palma, 1970
I haven’t written anything of any length on a film for ages and it’s too hot for my brain to work properly, so forgive the messiness (or you could take the disjointedness of my review as a clever parallel to the film itself, do that). This film isn’t much like what else I’ve seen from De Palma, and given that I don’t really like most of the rest I’ve seen from De Palma, that’s probably a good thing. There’s less cinematic “injokeyness” and more outright “hahajokeyness and there’s much less reliance on elaborate technical trickeries. The structure of the film is very loose, almost as if they were making it as they went along, and there are scenes within that seem to bare very little relevance towards anything but for the most part are amusing enough to justify their inclusion. The messiness of it all is kind of infectious, you can tell this was a film made by people who really loved what they were doing and were open to trying new things on a day to day basis.
The plot, such as it is, concerns a young aspiring filmmaker (played by Robert De Niro in a performance that’s almost a comedic Travis Bickle), with the idea to film several apartment rooms at once without his “actors” knowledge, an idea which catches the imagination of an adult film producer who sees the project’s pornographic potential. De Niro then goes from behind-the-camera voyeur to in-front-of-the-camera participant as he seduces a naïve young woman culminating in a sexual display, which becomes undone by technical problems. At this point he makes a complete reversal towards passive viewership as he trades his camera in for a colour television. De Palma then somewhat enters racial commentary with the “Be Black Baby” sequence which manages to go from hilarious to increasingly difficult to watch flipping back to the humour side in it's conclusion, satirising both the organizers and the participants in the process.
I’m not sure if De Palma ever really reaches a coherent point with the film, the ending in particular strikes me as pretty muddled, but it’s a clever and frequently amusing, scattershot little satire. I liked it!
This is a screenshot of the movie Hi Mom! I have posted it because it relates to my review of the movie Hi Mom! seen below.
Hi Mom!
De Palma, 1970
I haven’t written anything of any length on a film for ages and it’s too hot for my brain to work properly, so forgive the messiness (or you could take the disjointedness of my review as a clever parallel to the film itself, do that). This film isn’t much like what else I’ve seen from De Palma, and given that I don’t really like most of the rest I’ve seen from De Palma, that’s probably a good thing. There’s less cinematic “injokeyness” and more outright “hahajokeyness and there’s much less reliance on elaborate technical trickeries. The structure of the film is very loose, almost as if they were making it as they went along, and there are scenes within that seem to bare very little relevance towards anything but for the most part are amusing enough to justify their inclusion. The messiness of it all is kind of infectious, you can tell this was a film made by people who really loved what they were doing and were open to trying new things on a day to day basis.
The plot, such as it is, concerns a young aspiring filmmaker (played by Robert De Niro in a performance that’s almost a comedic Travis Bickle), with the idea to film several apartment rooms at once without his “actors” knowledge, an idea which catches the imagination of an adult film producer who sees the project’s pornographic potential. De Niro then goes from behind-the-camera voyeur to in-front-of-the-camera participant as he seduces a naïve young woman culminating in a sexual display, which becomes undone by technical problems. At this point he makes a complete reversal towards passive viewership as he trades his camera in for a colour television. De Palma then somewhat enters racial commentary with the “Be Black Baby” sequence which manages to go from hilarious to increasingly difficult to watch flipping back to the humour side in it's conclusion, satirising both the organizers and the participants in the process.
I’m not sure if De Palma ever really reaches a coherent point with the film, the ending in particular strikes me as pretty muddled, but it’s a clever and frequently amusing, scattershot little satire. I liked it!