Thursday, June 16, 2011

Dressed To Kill. (1980) Brian De Palma


Essentially, this is the story about a woman in a one-day affair, along with a hooker, a transvestite, a psychologist, a cop, and a nerdy teenage brainiac. These people would never meet at a party, they'd never share a drink at a bar. In fact, nerdy teenager is too young for a drink anyway. Stuffing such a vast blend into one cuu-razy story (and all of the characters' juvenile plasticity) makes the film only worth a look if you're doing a Brian De Palma month like I am. But at this point, I am starting to wish I'd just dedicated the month to Hitchcock.

It's not a very good film at all, but if you'd like to see the best parts of it watch the very first murder scene, and then fast forward to about fifty-eight minutes, the moment when De Palma's signature split screen shows up, and man, does it ever. The use of a TV in two separate rooms combined with excellent design and placement of the shot brings another magical De Palma moment.

Sadly, as in The Fury, the magic is only momentary. A Scooby Doo wrap-up and a chiller thriller finale (ripped straight from the end of Carrie -- hey! That worked, let's do it again) finally pushes Dressed To Kill into the bowels of complete nauseousness.

. . .

As one travels through De Palma's back catalog, you see things that suggest a fascination with the dark side, in particular, the vile nature of exploitative sex.

BFI's review of De Palma's second film but first theatrical release, Murder à la Mod (1968), a film I have yet to see, "Finds various young women... being auditioned by their boyfriend (the offscreen voice is De Palma's own) for a skin flick he's got to make to pay for his divorce." How interesting even in the early part of his career that De Palma's actual voice is being heard; one could say that his "voice" is heard through many of the rest of his films as well. The themes which captivated him early on are scattered throughout his work, never suggestively. Manipulation and bartering through sex, often leading to murder, began early in his oeuvre and continue through much of his career:

In Sisters it was a brutal murder by butcher knife the morning after a one night stand; Obsession leaves us with the idea that incest might be more biologically natural than we'd once thought; Blow Out, blogged here tomorrow, tells of a politician's affair resulting in death; in Scarface (blu-ray coming out this September), most of the sex is gift wrapped like an exchange, quid pro quo; Femme Fatale creates the kind of sex that is so enrapturing one can actually thieve off another's body in the process; Body Double and The Black Dahlia both lens prostitution and pornography in a "cool," glorifying manner, while dealing out a sad end for those who participate in such activities. (These two films want their cake and eat it, too.)

Sex isn't respected or honored in the context of these stories. It's always, "You got it, I want it, I've got this to give if I can get it."

After watching too much De Palma, you sometimes feel you need a cold shower. And just hope that nothing like the picture above gets you while you're in there.

Resembling Carrie, the opening scene of Dressed to Kill is that of a naked woman in the shower. But in comparing the two films, you can actually feel the more shameless way Dressed to Kill is shot. Whereas the opening shower scene in Carrie set the viewer up for an introduction to the innocence and confusion of its lead, a similar scene in Dressed to Kill is hyper-sexualized, focusing blatantly on Angie Dickinson's breasts - she's looking turned on by the bar of soap. The tone is utterly gratuitous, so over the top that it's ridiculous to watch, like an even worse Nine 1/2 Weeks, spiced up with murder so double your fun.

But, Reality Check: This film, and many from the director, are not supposed to be a reflection of reality.

So what are we watching? And why?

I guess we are fascinated by stories about people who do that sinful or immoral thing we're not supposed to. Sleep around. Commit murder. Make love in the shower with your bar of soap.

I am personally fascinated by the lens itself, the way it relays image to our eyes and, from there, straight into the soul. I am not persuaded that all stories are really good for us unless we're willing to challenge them, to pick them apart and take them on.

Dressed to Kill, in that sense, feels like voyeurism and a waste of time. Hardcore De Palma fans will find plenty to absorb in the way the camera draws us in, the split screens at the middle, the intrigue over sex, despair and murder.

That we're fascinated by some sort of code that's broken, some sort of gate we're not supposed to go through, makes the watching feel like a lonely fellow addicted to pornography. It's the thing that he can't have that he obsesses over. He's engulfed in it, addicted to it, willing to give his eyes to that thing that escapes him.

We are a strange bird, us humans. We've built the greatest means for entertainment. We can bask in a million different stories at which we'll marvel. But for some of us it always comes back to those things we just can't have: an affair, a cover-up, a murder.

Seems kinda boring when you think about it like that.

6 comments:

  1. "But at this point, I am starting to wish I'd just dedicated the month to Hitchcock."

    It might not have been a bad idea.

    "Murder à la Mod (1968), a film I have yet to see"

    You don't have to see it at all. It's a feature on the beautiful new Blu-Ray release of BLOW OUT, and it's only interesting in terms of how it lays out De Palma's interests and modus operandi. Otherwise, it's a snooze.

    "Blow Out, blogged here tomorrow"

    Can't wait. It's my favorite of De Palma's work, though I do wonder how it plays when you've been overdosing on his films.

    "Body Double and The Black Dahlia both lens prostitution and pornography in a "cool," glorifying manner"

    I don't know about BODY DOUBLE, since I haven't seen it, but THE BLACK DAHLIA, for all its faults, doesn't seem to do that as far as I can see.

    "We've built the greatest means for entertainment. We can bask in a million different stories at which we'll marvel. But for some of us it always comes back to those things we just can't have: an affair, a cover-up, a murder.

    Seems kinda boring when you think about it like that."

    Nice.

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  2. >>>"Blow Out, blogged here tomorrow"

    Can't wait. It's my favorite of De Palma's work, though I do wonder how it plays when you've been overdosing on his films.<<<

    Poor little neglected blog! I've been MIA much more than I intended when I said I was going "lite" for June. Obviously I haven't blogged Blow Out yet. I have simply been out too much enjoying the summer and some other things. I've put it in at least four times and I've fallen asleep at least that many times, which is NOT the film's fault at all! ("It's not YOU, it's ME!")

    I'll post something soon, I'm sure. Even typing right now I feel that FILMSWEEP misses me dearly. :'/

    >>>"Body Double and The Black Dahlia both lens prostitution and pornography in a "cool," glorifying manner"

    I don't know about BODY DOUBLE, since I haven't seen it, but THE BLACK DAHLIA, for all its faults, doesn't seem to do that as far as I can see.<<<

    I think the sentence that tells the most about my feelings for how those films are done is that they "want their cake and eat it too." The Black Dahlia, much as I dig the film and get a bit creeped out by it, feels yet again like De Palma just can't get enough of his interests in excessive perversion.

    I am so worn out I will probably fall asleep on Blow Out again. To make matters worse, there's a fella on the Transcendent Man thread that I can't keep up with when I'm this worn out. Ryan, please see that film and help me out. :)

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  3. I've been enjoying your De Palma blogging, but I think the way you come down on Dressed to Kill echoes a lot of my problems with De Palma. The man is clearly a technical master. While I do generally feel that "style IS substance," the problem with the De Palma is that the ideas he's exploring are rather... well, trite. The man has an instinctive and masterful control over cinema, but the films over which he's had the most control all seem to be polemical without being substantive in their very premises -- therefore, it's hard to say that all his style adds up to much substance.

    I even enjoyed Dressed to Kill -- apparently more than you did -- but it always seems like his apologists are insisting that there's something *more* to his films than is apparent onscreen. Most of the time, I think he just enjoys riffing on his pet themes and seeing what happens when he applies master-level technique to apprentice-level writing. That's why I tend to enjoy his journeyman projects -- like The Untouchables or Mission: Impossible -- more than his auteurist projects.

    I'm also looking forward to your thoughts on Blow Out, so I hope you have time to post them this month.

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  4. Thanks, Matt. I've enjoyed it, too, even though I'm ripping on him at times. I believe I will extend "June Lite" into July to make sure I finish on this summer crash course.

    Have you seen Carrie? I know it feels "b" these days, but I just can't get over the combination of Spacek and De Palma. The final twenty minutes are as perfect as a horror film gets.

    I just got a HUGE tub of milk and ate 20 Oreo cookies - and I don't think I'm even close to finished yet. I'm putting on Blow Out right now, and even starting early tonight. This time I WILL NOT FAIL!! :)

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  5. I have seen Carrie, but it was a *looong* time ago. Your review actually did quite a bit to refresh my memory. I always liked it, and it's another example of De Palma knocking a for-hire job out of the park. I don't even consider it B-grade, even though huge swaths of it are deliberately over the top. It's just too sincere, and the performances are too good. As you note, the slaughter of the final 20 minutes wouldn't have any impact if there had been no emotional development throughout the rest of the film. It's one of De Palma's best.

    I hope you enjoy Blow Out (more than I did)!

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  6. Glad to finally see some decent feedback on Carrie. I posted at A&F and was thoroughly ignored by the community. Nothing new there, but I kinda thought I might get some sort of "Woot Woot!" for Carrie.

    >>>I hope you enjoy Blow Out (more than I did)!<<<

    Huh. I am funneling my reactions into a Reaction, to be posted later today, but no, I don't think it is anywhere near as strong as I consistently see suggested.

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