Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
An intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling De Palma’s 55-year career, his life, and his filmmaking process, with revealing anecdotes and, of course, a wealth of film clips.
De Palma (2016) is a straightforward but deeply engaging talking-head documentary built almost entirely around a long-form interview with Brian De Palma conducted by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. The format is deliberately stripped-down — no cutaways to other interviewees, no voiceover narration — which gives it an intimate, unvarnished quality. De Palma himself is a candid and witty subject, offering genuine insight into his creative process, his rivalries, and his controversial career. The 'acting' category reflects his natural charisma and candor as an interview subject. Cinematography is functional at best — static interview setups with film clips — nothing visually inventive. Novelty is moderate: the single-subject, single-interview format is a deliberate choice but not unprecedented in film portraiture. The ending, like the film itself, is reflective rather than dramatically conclusive. A strong watch for cinephiles but largely conventional as documentary filmmaking.