PASSION
For much
(all?) of his career, I feel that Brian De Palma and his movies have been
underrated and underappreciated. The man
is a master storyteller and his use of camera techniques and moves are second
to none. He is a true visual artist and
one with a style that is very easy to recognize; you always know when you are
watching a Brian De Palma film. Sure he
has had a number of failures along the way, particularly recently with “Redacted”
and “The Black Dahlia” being particularly underwhelming, and it is perhaps this
recent form that saw his latest film “Passion” be almost completely overlooked
by audiences. This is a shame too
because “Passion” is a great film and it shows De Palma at his most playful
since 1992’s “Raising Cain”.
What De
Palma has done with “Passion” should not go unheralded because he has taken a
terrible French film (“Love Crime [Crime D’Amour]”) and remade it into
something that is not only watchable but something that is stylishly cinematic
while also making the film his own.
Surprisingly, the first half of “Passion” is very faithful to the
original film, however it is when the second half begins that De Palma takes
over and he flexes his cinematic muscles showing off all of the flare and bravura
his is known for. This truly is a film
of two halves, particularly when it comes to visual style. This story of office politics and jealousy
that ends up leading to murder, is handled in quite a flat visual style for the
first half of the film. Daylight features
prominently and most shots are taken front on without the use of any strange
camera angles. Also colour seems to be
quite prominent in the opening half of “Passion”, but this is to be
significantly drained in the second half when darkness and shadows start to
take over as one of our characters begins to withdrew within their mind which
may be about to break. Suddenly the film
explodes into cinematic trickery, with dutch angles and tricky camera moves
becoming the norm, as De Palma seems to use every trick he has in his book and
it is deliriously entertaining. Even if
you have seen the original film and therefore know the twist, it doesn’t matter
because it is the way De Palma presents the reveal that makes it so
entertaining.
Another
thing that I love about “Passion” is that this is obviously Brian De Palma
enjoying himself and having fun with his audience, because this is a film that
does not take itself too seriously. It
is a fun and entertaining thriller, brilliantly put together, but that is it;
it is not trying to be anything more than it is. For those that think that Brian De Palma lost
it many years ago, you only need to watch the final scene of “Passion” to know
this is not true. This scene is the best
thing the director has done in I do not know how long. It is a thrilling sequence that is at times
ridiculous and entirely derivative of past De Palma scenes, but it is so
exhilarating to watch and sends the movie off on an absolute high. If nothing else, “Passion” is worth seeing
for this scene alone. Finally, I must
get on my soapbox and say that Australian distributors need to get on board
with De Palma’s films because this is the fourth consecutive film from the
director to go straight to DVD. Luckily
I was able to see “Passion” on the big screen (where it should be seen) at MIFF
this year, but it is a disgrace to think that one of our greatest living
directors is having a hard time getting his films cinematically released.
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