You make a certain kind of movie because that's the way you see things.
Iconoclastic director Brian De Palma has had a long and storied career in an industry that has a tendency to chew up creative talent and spit it out at a rapid clip. (Of course, it helps that he's had a few hits along the way, which goes a ways toward keeping the wolves at bay.) Consequently, he has a lot of stories about the films he's made -- the good and the bad, the hits and misses -- and the people he's worked with to bring them into being. This is great news for filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, who chose to make a documentary about him, simply titled De Palma. It's even better news for the man's fans and those who feel he hasn't gotten his due.
Where De Palma differs from other recent director-centered docs like Milius and Altman is that instead of interviewing an array of his friends and collaborators, Baumbach and Paltrow simply sat De Palma and let him talk (for what I presume was hours) about each of his films in succession. Since they tackle them chronologically, the hidden gems are right up front, including tantalizing glimpses of his early shorts Woton's Wake and The Responsive Eye. Both look beat up (it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the excerpts were taken from De Palma's personal copies) and lack finesse, but they hail from the time when he did everything on his films because that was how they got done. "I figured I'd really hit the big time," he says, "when I didn't have to pack up the equipment at the end of the day and take it back to the rental house."
The other clip that captured my attention was the original ending of Snake Eyes, which I've been eager to see ever since I first learned of its existence. Perhaps Shout! Factory will see fit to do the same magic on it that they just did with Raising Cain. Even if they don't, I'm thinking about taking a second look at Snake Eyes regardless, something I've never seriously contemplated in the 18 years since its brief theatrical run. Heck, I might even watch Wise Guys or Bonfire of the Vanities again. That's how persuasive De Palma and this documentary are.