The current cinema, "Here Comes The Bleaugh" edition

There are some out there who will tell you that Riddick is good. Like the man said, I dare you to pay money to find out which of us is right. Also bad: Salinger.

I wrote up Brian De Palma's Passion when I first saw it at the New York Film Festival in 2012, and again to commemorate its wider release for MSN Movies. I link to both notices to demonstrate my eccentric commitment to avoid self-plagiarism. 

Comments

[Modefotografie]

cool men

[Grant L]

As one who finds De Palma irresistable when he's fully on his game (though the last time it felt that way to me was Femme Fatale) I'd rate this one about a B - one too many switchbacks we've seen before, and too few truly loopy surprises. I know he's an old pal of yours, but Owen Gleiberman's review contained the following: "the film seems almost engineered to get you giggling at the extravagance of its absurdity." It was not intended as a compliment, and if he doesn't know that not only is there no "seems almost" about it, but that the insane plot twists are a big part of the fun (again, when he's fully on his game). If he's not aware of that by now he might he might want to try and beg off of the next De Palma assignment he's given.

[Jeff McMahon]

I enjoyed Pitch Black and the other Riddick movie enough to give this one a chance. I mean, look at those clouds in that above shot!

[M. Murneau]

"Super icky" and "rapey" are phrases that do not belong in an adult's vocabulary. Grow up and grow a sack...you little sissy-boy!

[Glenn Kenny]

If you say so, M. Murneau. I'll go with "repugnant" and "valorizes rape culture" next time.

[Josh Z]

Glenn, sorry to hear about your impending unemployment. I wish I could offer you a job (god knows I could use to clean some house and add a decent writer right now), but I sadly could not afford you.

Does this perhaps mean that we might see more than one blog post a week from you around here now? :)

[Chris L.]

Fucking bean-counting MSN weasels. On this of all days. They were never worthy anyhow, what with the assembly-line junk they had you focus on. No doubt in my mind you'll find a more fitting outlet for what you want to write about, and a wider readership that appreciates it as we have for so long. Peace and best wishes 'til then!

[Cadavra]

Oddly, seeing the film today, I thought it was a good picture, but it lacked the FUN I thought it should have. Corneau's version was properly serious, but where's that wicked sense of humor that almost a DePalma trademark?

Also, is it just me, or did this version seem a bit top-heavy with climaxes (the non-sexual kind), especially at the finale?

[Petey]

"it's a hoot, all right, but it isn't quite Radley Metzger, which is to say in a sense that it isn't quite Brian De Palma either. It doesn't have enough sex, is the thing."

Finally caught up with Passion, and yes, it's a hoot.

But the lack of sex is the thing here. You are missing the silent "unrequited" in the title. The repeated lack of requited passion is the core theme here.

"De Palma really makes his frames within frames within frames work for him here. And this, some will intuit, is in the service of saying something about The Way We Live Now."

Disagree.

The frames within frames within frames thing was always a core tool in the De Palma toolkit, way before the modern surveillance zeitgeist. And with our current Passion, think of the Most Striking And Important frames within frames within frames; it's the loooong ballet split-screen, with neither split captured on any camera...

[Not fake]

All conformable legal documents to back this payment inside your name genuinely will likely be presented prior to your acceptance to the proposal Not fake in order to unravel financial problems, it's enough to complete it only having a passport.