Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Man, I want to see this. I’ve been a De Palma fan since before Quint was a leak in his father’s rubber. Why the hell haven’t I seen this film yet? It’s not fair. It’s not fair, I tell you!
Ahoy, squirts! Everybody's favorite blood drenched prom queen... wait... strike that... I meant crusty seaman... At any rate, this is Quint reporting in from chilly Mill Valley with my opinion of Brian De Palma's newest flick, FEMME FATALE.
I have always liked Brian De Palma's work, but it wasn't until recently that I literally realized what a great filmmaker he was. That realization happened when I watched a film he did called BLOW OUT. If you haven't seen it, I can not recommend seeing it enough. It's a masterpiece of cinema. Engaging, creepy, thrilling cinema with career best performances by Nancy Allen, John Travolta and John Lithgow. The camera trickery that De Palma is known for is a perfect fit to this story of a movie soundman caught in the middle of political assassination.
So, it was with new zest that I began to look forward to De Palma's next film. Then I remembered that his new flick, FEMME FATALE, was getting some lukewarm or bad reviews from its Toronto screenings. I was hoping against hope that those who had been disappointed with the film were wrong and I didn't have another SNAKE EYES to look forward to.
Cut to the Mill Valley Film Festival, my chance to see the film. I have to say that I can't imagine what movie the nay sayers were watching. It couldn't have been the movie I saw last night. Sure, FEMME FATALE is far from perfect and not nearly in the same league as BLOW OUT, but it's pure De Palma through and through. I kinda feel about this the same way I felt when people who claimed to worship Kubrick were shitting on EYES WIDE SHUT. Like the movie or don't, that's entirely up to you, but don't pretend it's a radically different film from said filmmaker. EYES WIDE SHUT felt 100% like Kubrick. FEMME FATALE feels 100% De Palma. Neither one are anywhere near the best examples of what these gifted filmmakers have given us, but neither one are bad films.
FEMME FATALE follows Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as she both avoids and causes backstabbing of all sorts in many different situations. I'm not going to go deep into the plot of the film as one of the joys of De Palma's films is watching the story unfold piece by piece. Rest assured... You get your money's worth in this film. There is manipulation, love, hate, revenge, violence, split-screen, nudity, sensual situations... so, some real, honest to God femme fatale behavior.
Stamos is actually pretty good in this film. Sure, she's beautiful and has got an amazing body (which she isn't too shy about showing off, god bless 'er), but we already knew that. Now, she doesn't give a tour de force performance... she actually slips a few times and badly delivers one or two lines, but she carries the film pretty effortlessly.
Antonio Banderas plays a photographer who sometimes resorts to taking tabloid photos when the times are tough. He's a likeable guy and Banderas has enough charisma to really have fun with this character. There's one scene, which I'll refer to as the "hotel room scene" where he's amazingly funny. I was laughing for 3 or 4 minutes straight, as was the majority of the audience. I'd love to see Banderas take on a full fledged comedy role. If you think about it he's proven to have very great comedic timing in films like FOUR ROOMS and SPY KIDS.
Like I said above, De Palma isn't giving us the best of the best of his work, but he ain't slouching either. The only thing I was disappointed with was his camera trickery. We do see the damn near trademarked De Palma split-screen a few times and I was glad to see them, but it didn't seem very challenging. There's better use of split-screen in Roger Avary's THE RULES OF ATTRACTION. Avary actually pushed the boundaries of the gimmick shot, just like De Palma used to do.
I also didn't care much for Ryuichi Sakamoto's score. It's a bit too playful during scenes that should be tense. It goes a long way to defusing the tension that De Palma carefully tried to set up. Most of the time the score fits, but there are many glaring clashes between the tone onscreen and the tone coming from the speakers.
I can also tell that a lot of people will be calling bullshit on the end of the film and while I certainly don't think the ending was the strongest part about the film, I do really like it. I would love to talk more about it, but why would I want to ruin it for all you good people? Let's just say that I like the dual nature of things. I like the idea of getting a chance at making yourself a better person.
But I digress. De Palma didn't fail us. He's shown he can still kick some ass and give us a fine film. I love his work and will always be on the lookout for his next film.
That's about all I'm gonna write about this one. I know it's a little shorter than the stuff I'm putting out right now, but I've got lots to catch up on. Keep your eyes on the horizon, squirts, for this seaman has lots and lots of goodies for ya'. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
