CINEMA TWEETS WATCHES DE PALMA'S SNAKE EYES FOR THE FIRST TIME
"There is so much to love about Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes," Cinema Tweets posted yesterday, "I don’t even know where to start. As I’ve said many times before, I’m thankful for The Rewatchables podcast for bringing me to a film I hadn’t previously seen before. I also once again find myself embarrassed for not having seen this film despite proclaiming myself a De Palma die-hard. Newsflash: I’m not perfect. But do you know what is perfect, especially for a rainy, or in some cases, snowy, Saturday night? Snake Eyes. My spoiler free review ahead."
After a plot description, Cinema Tweets continues:
Some of you may have come across my recent review of Kathryn Bigelow’s recent release A House of Dynamite, a film I criticized for misusing the “vantage point” mechanism as a means of telling its story. Snake Eyes succeeds where A House of Dynamite fails. With Snake Eyes, throughout the second act, we go back in time and revisit the terrorist attack as it unfolds, but from a different character’s vantage point- usually as Detective Santoro interviews a new character. The difference between Bigelow’s film and De Palma’s film is we actually learn something new with each vantage point. There’s more mustard added to the story with each character’s version of events. That’s why the way in which this story is told actually works super well.But in addition to the vantage point storytelling, we get vintage De Palma artistry. Draped & drenched in split diopters, extreme close-ups, and an unbelievable long, over-head tracking shot throughout the corridors of a hotel. The camera work here is just spectacular. Had you just played this film for me without ever telling me the name of the director, I would’ve known within minutes that this was made by Brian De Palma. His fingerprints are all over this - and I mean that in the best way possible.
Mixed in with a good story & awesome direction from De Palma is a sneaky-excellent Nicolas Cage performance. Cage has always been bombastic & over-the-top in a sort of take it or leave it manner. In this case, I’m definitely taking it because Cage fits the sleazy detective bill perfectly. Part of what I enjoy about Cage’s performance here is that his character Detective Santoro is put on his heels about halfway through the film & never totally regains traction. It brings out a different side of Cage, who appears to be in control throughout the first act of this film. I very much enjoyed the Cage- De Palma partnership.
We don’t get films like Snake Eyes anymore & it’s a damn shame.