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Recent Headlines
a la Mod:

Domino is
a "disarmingly
straight-forward"
work that "pushes
us to reexamine our
relationship to images
and their consumption,
not only ethically
but metaphysically"
-Collin Brinkman

De Palma on Domino
"It was not recut.
I was not involved
in the ADR, the
musical recording
sessions, the final
mix or the color
timing of the
final print."

Listen to
Donaggio's full score
for Domino online

De Palma/Lehman
rapport at work
in Snakes

De Palma/Lehman
next novel is Terry

De Palma developing
Catch And Kill,
"a horror movie
based on real things
that have happened
in the news"

Supercut video
of De Palma's films
edited by Carl Rodrigue

Washington Post
review of Keesey book

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Exclusive Passion
Interviews:

Brian De Palma
Karoline Herfurth
Leila Rozario

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AV Club Review
of Dumas book

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De Palma interviewed
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italkyoubored

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De Palma a la Mod
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A note about topics: Some blog posts have more than one topic, in which case only one main topic can be chosen to represent that post. This means that some topics may have been discussed in posts labeled otherwise. For instance, a post that discusses both The Boston Stranglers and The Demolished Man may only be labeled one or the other. Please keep this in mind as you navigate this list.
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Sunday, May 12, 2019
'DOMINO' OPENS MAY 31 AT CINEMA VILLAGE IN NYC
THEATER IN GREENWICH VILLAGE, 11 AM & 11 PM DAILY FOR AT LEAST A WEEK
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/dominoturnitup.png

It looks like Brian De Palma's Domino will open in at least two U.S. theaters on May 31st. We found out last Monday that the film will open that day at AMC Rolling Hills 20, which is about a 30-mile drive from Los Angeles, in Torrance. Today we discover that Domino will also open May 31st at Cinema Village in New York's Greenwich Village. The Cinema Village theater will show the film twice a day, at 11am and 11pm, for at least a full week.

(Thanks to Hugh!)


Posted by Geoff at 6:17 PM CDT
Updated: Sunday, May 12, 2019 6:19 PM CDT
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Wednesday, May 8, 2019
GEORGE LITTO HAS DIED
IMPRESSED BY 'SISTERS', MORTGAGED HOUSE FOR 'OBSESSION', PRODUCED 'DTK' & 'BLOW OUT'
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/litto.jpg

George Litto, agent turned producer and then Filmways chairman, died April 29 at the age of 88. Litto began his long association with Brian De Palma when Edward Pressman was shopping for deals to distribute De Palma's Sisters, and asked Litto to come see the movie. Sitting in a theater in New York, Litto did not know who Paul Hirsch was, but Hirsch happened to be sitting right behind Litto. Litto turned to Hirsch when it was done, and said, "You know, I can sell this film. But the best thing in this film is the director. I think the director has a future."

Shortly thereafter, De Palma asked Litto to represent him, but Litto told him he wasn't going to be an agent much longer, that he was going to produce. He said he was going to quit being an agent in a year, and De Palma told him, "I'll be happy to have you for a year." Litto's daughter, Andria Litto, tells The Hollywood Reporter's Mike Barnes that Litto went on to mortgage his own house in order to finance De Palma's Obsession. Litto was also instrumental as a reference for Paul Monash, who wasn't quite sure about hiring De Palma as director of Carrie.

Litto went on to produce two highly regarded De Palma films: Dressed To Kill and Blow Out. On the latter film, Litto agreed with Hirsch and Nancy Allen that there should be a happy ending. De Palma did not agree. In a Fiction Factory interview from Carlotta's 2012 DVD edition of Blow Out (quoted in the Douglas Keesey book, Brian De Palma's Split-Screen), Litto says, "I always felt that the girl should be saved in Blow Out and they should go see Sugar Babies, but [De Palma's] view was different, and the film still has many admirers that way. But I was a firm believer in the Hitchcock concept: you meet two people you like; they get into jeopardy; and you root for them to extricate themselves safely."


Posted by Geoff at 11:57 PM CDT
Updated: Thursday, May 9, 2019 12:17 AM CDT
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Tuesday, May 7, 2019
LISTEN TO DONAGGIO'S FULL 'DOMINO' SCORE ONLINE
DYNAMIC, MOURNFULLY MELODIC MUSIC FULL OF SUSPENSE
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/dominodigitalsermon.png

Pino Donaggio has worked up a truly inspired score for Brian De Palma's Domino, and you can listen to the entire thing at Music.Film. Suspenseful, tragic, and mournfully melodic, Donaggio's music for Domino complements De Palma's moving images in ways that feel naturally intuitive and alive. Donaggio knows when to use silence to his advantage, and some of the quiet moments carry the most tremendous emotion. It's a great score-- check it out.

Posted by Geoff at 1:31 AM CDT
Updated: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 1:49 AM CDT
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Monday, May 6, 2019
'DOMINO' AT AMC ROLLING HILLS, NEAR L.A. MAY 31
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/alexlooks4.jpg

Saban Films announced weeks ago that Brian De Palma's Domino will be in theaters and on demand beginning Friday, May 31st. Today, at least one theater was revealed: AMC Rolling Hills 20, which is about a 30-mile drive from Los Angeles, in Torrance. It looks like AMC Rolling Hills will be the exclusive theater to show Domino in the Los Angeles-area, at least for the film's opening weekend. It is unclear whether or not there will be other theaters outside of Los Angeles showing Domino May 31st (opening weekend).

Posted by Geoff at 11:59 PM CDT
Updated: Tuesday, May 7, 2019 1:38 AM CDT
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Wednesday, May 1, 2019
20/20 DE PALMA VISION - DOMINO CERTIFIED FRESH
YOUR HUMBLE NARRATOR AT DE PALMA A LA MOD HAS NOW SEEN DOMINO
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/rearviewmatch3.jpg

Brian De Palma's Domino -- and let's get this straight, this is Brian De Palma's film -- when you see it all the way to the end, I'm not sure how you can come away from it with any other notion -- is full of tomatoes. They're all over the place in this movie, and you have to think that De Palma would have had Rotten Tomatoes in the back of his mind as he thought of and shot Domino. Well, dearly beloved, I'm here to tell you, Domino is certified fresh, one-hundred percent De Palma. From shot design (check out an early shot that begins wide, verrrry slowly moving in as two characters move about the room, until the shot finally ends, in God's eye point-of-view fashion, to focus in on an item that will have lasting impact on the film to come) to the way Pino Donaggio's music evokes the lasting sadness of that God's eye view, watching the way these events unfold. I was reminded not only of Donaggio's score for Blow Out, but also of the way the music works in contrast to much of what we see on screen in films such as Snake Eyes and The Black Dahlia. There is a silent film sequence in slow motion, full of tension, that truly gets you on the edge of your seat, wondering how in the world this is going to end up. The sequence has a kicker of a climax that has to be seen to be believed, beautifully executed. There are scenes where the camera slowly moves in toward stunning emotional impact (one of them is pictured above).

A couple of Letterboxd reviews have talked about Domino being a sort of Redacted meets Passion, and there is definitely a bit of truth to that. Passion opens with our two main characters watching commercials on a laptop, discussing and critiquing, yet we never see what they see. Later on, one of them makes a commercial, and we see the result afterward as it is screened for corporate executives. There is a lot of that sort of thing in Domino, except in the new movie, instead of commercials, the genre is terrorist videos, which brings us back to the world of Redacted. Our two main cops in the new film are seen watching terrorist videos on a laptop, commenting on how they're shot and edited, using drones, etc. We are not watching with them, but simply watching them as they watch, the look of horror on their faces. Later on, we see the videos being made, and then the way they've been edited.

I could write a lot more about Domino, but let me end for now by saying that Domino takes place in the future: an intertitle near the start of the film tells us the date is June 10, 2020. An intertitle near the beginning of De Palma's Mission To Mars carries the date June 9, 2020. If that's not De Palma's idea of a cosmic joke, it's a split in the horizon, for sure.


Posted by Geoff at 8:04 AM CDT
Updated: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 5:46 PM CDT
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Saturday, April 27, 2019
MEANWHILE, BELOW... 'WOTON'S WAKE'
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/meanwhilebelowa.jpg








Posted by Geoff at 9:33 AM CDT
Updated: Saturday, April 27, 2019 11:20 AM CDT
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Friday, April 26, 2019
JENNIFER FOX TALKS OF DE PALMA AS MENTOR - THE TALE
FOX WILL PARTICIPATE IN SPECIAL EVENT SCREENING FOR P.A.X.A. SATURDAY IN CHICAGO
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/jenniferfox.jpg

Jennifer Fox will participate in a special P.A.X.A. (Parents Against Child Sex Abuse) event Saturday (April 27th) in which her film, The Tale, will be screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. Fox has previously spoken about Brian De Palma as a friend and also mentor on this specific film. In a new interview with Reel Chicago's Colin Costello ahead of Saturday's P.A.X.A. event, Fox is asked, "What was it like casting older and younger versions of you?"
Brian De Palma is a friend of mine and was a mentor to me on the film. He said, “You know Jennifer this is a casting nightmare. How are you going to audition two versions of everybody?” But, we had really great casting help with casting director Matthew Maisto. We also had Oren Moverman as a producer. So, we did the best we could in every circumstance.

Below is the event description and agenda for tomorrow morning:
Description

P.A.X.A. was approached by HBO's The Tale to support its grass roots efforts to leverage the film and raise awareness of child sex abuse. After watching the movie, our organization wants to share Director Jennifer Fox’s true life story to as many parents as possible. It shows how a pedophile uses emotional manipulation and grooming to lead his victim into thinking that she’s making choices to be in a sexual relationship with him. Be forewarned: there are explicit scenes of sex with a minor (filmed with an adult body double) that will elicit disgust. But a greater good is served: this movie is impactful because it portrays the perpetrator—not as a monster—but as a nice guy who earnestly wants a sexual relationship with a child. This is the most insidious and disturbing part of the film: you will never think of sexual predators the same way ever again.

Why Attend this Screening:

P.A.X.A. invites parents to attend the screening of HBO's the Tale as a way to gain better an understanding about:

The type of settings where a child may find himself/herself vulnerable and a target for sexual predators.
Tactics predators use to manipulate a child into sexual abuse.
Tactics predators use to groom the child's parents.

Note: This film is intended for an adult audience only. If you are survivor or survivor parent, this film may trigger PTSD.

The Tale's Writer/Director, Jennifer Fox, will participate in this screening

Program Agenda:
10:00am – 10:15am: Introduction to P.A.X.A. and HBO's the Tale
10:15am - 11:15am: Movie showing (first 60 minutes of the movie)
11:15am – 11:30am: Break
11:30am - 12:20pm: Movie showing (remaining 52 minutes of the movie)
12:20pm - 1:00pm: Panel Discussion + Open Q&A with Audience and Jennifer Fox


Posted by Geoff at 11:57 PM CDT
Updated: Saturday, April 27, 2019 12:09 AM CDT
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Tuesday, April 23, 2019
SCREEN EPIPHANIES -'FEMME FATALE' APR 24 IN BROOKLYN
K AUSTIN COLLINS TO DISCUSS HOW DE PALMA'S FILM INSPIRED HIS OWN LOVE OF CINEMA
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/ffinwhite.jpgWednesday night (April 24th), the Brooklyn Academy of Music will screen Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale at 7pm, as part of its Curator's Choice, Screen Epiphanies series. Before the screening, film critic K. Austin Collins will be on stage with BAM's Ashley Clark to discuss how Femme Fatale inspired Collins' love of cinema.

Posted by Geoff at 10:39 PM CDT
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Saturday, April 20, 2019
NEW 'DOMINO' STILL VIA USA TODAY
AND A BEHIND-THE-SCENES PIC RELEASED BY SABAN A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/dominousatodaymedium.jpg

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays a cop in the above still from Brian De Palma's Domino. The pic, shot by still photographer Rolf Konow, is one of dozens of exclusive images included in USA Today's post this weekend about upcoming summer films. Below is another pic from Konow, showing De Palma, Coster-Waldau, and Carice van Houten on what appears to be the same set as above.

"Somehow we managed to make a movie out of this completely chaotic production situation, and hopefully you'll be seeing it in your local cinemas sometime in the future." -Brian De Palma


Posted by Geoff at 2:51 PM CDT
Updated: Saturday, April 20, 2019 2:53 PM CDT
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Friday, April 19, 2019
SEEMS UNFINISHED, & YET... AMONG DE PALMA'S BEST...?
"IN A WEIRD WAY THE FRAGMENTED QUALITY ONLY MAKES IT MORE INTRIGUING"
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/dominosplitmonitorb.jpg

Jeremy Smith ("Mr. Beaks") refuses to assign a star rating to Domino on Letterboxd because, he insists, "it’s not a finished movie." Another Letterboxd user, pynechone, says Domino is "Clearly botched but still manages to be one of the most formally creative and impressive action/thrillers of the past few years." Some, like pynechone, as well as film critics such as Calum Marsh, are assigning four stars or more to Brian De Palma's new film, which has yet to be officially released (that happens May 31st). Here are some links, mostly from Letterboxd, and one from Twitter:

James Slaymaker

DOMINO: A refraction of the thematic concerns of REDACTED filtered through the antiseptic, high-def DV sheen of PASSION. An exploration of modern warfare as a clash between panoptic/synoptic surveillance, based on a dichotomy between digital image monitoring devices as tools of oppression and tools of emancipation. Toxic notions of American exceptionalism pitted against idealistic ambitions towards multicultural cooperation.

Ben Nash
****1/2 stars

This will show the world the destruction of the infidels."
"This will show the world your sacrifice."

"We're Americans. We read your emails."

Some of the most impressive shit Brian De Palma has ever shot. A continuation of the ideas and themes seeded in Redacted by way of Passion's aesthetic adventures. Definitely not the film it was originally supposed to be, but in a weird way the fragmented quality only makes it more intriguing. I pity the poor bastards who tried to market this as a straight action thriller.


James Healey
****1/2 stars

CLEARLY compromised yet despite this still manages to be one of De Palma's best. Almost feel's like if an amazing director tried to make a thriller in the style of The Room, but as crazy as that sounds it fucking works. This film is pure camp combined with De Palma's masterful filmmaking. If we ever get his cut, it could truly be a perfect film.

PS: Features the greatest use of split screen in cinema.


NewSock
Truly preposterous, bizarre movie. Plays as a satire/parody of political thrillers like Homeland almost because (in spite of?) the clear studio-mandated editing. Although the film was obviously compromised, the wacky plot developments reveal De Palma wildly indulging in his vintage trademarks: insane split screen POV massacre via laptop screen, a third act showdown almost told entirely in slow-motion, smoldering split diopter closeups, roaming overhead crane shots.

Jeremy Smith
No star rating for this one because it’s not a finished movie. It’s agonizing to watch at times. There’s a fun rooftop chase that was pretty clearly temp tracked to the “Kidnapped” cue from NORTH BY NORTHWEST (which is amusing because the sequence is a riff on VERTIGO), but it plays like a walk-through. The bullfight finale is brilliantly conceived, but it feels like the money shots are missing. De Palma was forced to rush through principal photography due to shady behavior from his financiers, and isn’t doing press. I’m surprised he kept his name it. But if you’re a fan, it’s an interesting companion piece to REDACTED, as well as a politically radical inversion of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. What could’ve been...

pynechone
**** stars

Whew. Clearly botched but still manages to be one of the most formally creative and impressive action/thrillers of the past few years. The final neon-drenched set-piece (mostly in slow motion) is truly something to behold.


Brendan Michaels
****1/2 stars

90s De Palma with the political intrigue of Redacted. I’m glad this finally came out, this film is fantastic.


Calum Marsh
**** stars

holy mackerel


Posted by Geoff at 7:56 AM CDT
Updated: Friday, April 19, 2019 11:39 PM CDT
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