The De Palma Cut: The Films of America's Most Controversial Director

by Laurent Bouzereau

Looks at the career of Brian De Palma, discusses the criticisms leveled against him, and considers the themes and camera techniques used in his films

Genres: Film

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Drew Raley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bouzereau is now legendary for his many many talking heads interview DVD supplements for the likes of Spielberg and De Palma. Those are workmanlike and professional, but mostly anodyne and flavorless. It is thus a surreal surprise to find that Bouzereau, here in this book and in his commentary for the Carrie Criterion laserdisk, is capable of wild theorizing and off-center philosophizing. He is frequently wrong-headed and naive in his approach to the politics and sexuality of De Palma's films, but it's worth the price of admission just to see how far out Bouzereau goes in his veeeeeeeery French take on cinema.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The info is very basic, and much of it is common knowledge among De Palma buffs today, but you must remember that when this was published in 1988, there were no other books on De Palma out there. There were no DVD documentaries, which Bouzereau would later pioneer. Taking that into consideration, this book is a wonderful resource. His writing isn't the best, but it's clear and readable and gets the job done. There has yet to be a definitive book on the life and films of De Palma – the chapter in Jason Zinoman's Shock Value comes close, if only it were book-length! – but in the meantime this will do nicely.