Back in the last 70's and 80's, Brian De Palma was one of my favorite directors with films like BLOW OUT, CARRIE, DRESSED TO KILL and THE UNTOUCHABLES.
He's also cranked out some real stinkers like Body Double, Snake Eyes and Redacted too, making him pretty hit and miss since his peak.
It's nice to see De Palma get back to form with 2013's PASSION. While evoking and certainly recalling some of his better films, Passion forges an unpredictable, twisted little path through corporate intrigue.
Rachel McAdams is Christine, the take-no-prisoners head of an advertising agency. She is impressed with one of her most creative designers Isabelle, powerfully played by Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish) and Prometheus).
Soon, Isabelle appears to learn a bit too quickly from Christine on ruthless business tactics and their work relationship goes from passionate, to adversarial to murder.
The last half of the movie is filled with twists, turns, surprises and excellent examples of the best parts of De Palma's patented directorial touches, like split screen, overlapping scenes, fluid camerawork and a great music score by Pino Donaggio..
It's all very over the top, adult, sexy, violent and VERY De Palma.
I think it's his best film since 1998's Mission Impossible! I'll give it a B.
Comments