Playing almost like an experimental film, this chaotic movie from Brian DePalma (DRESSED TO KILL) has too much going for it to be ignored, but not enough to be revered.
Jon Rubin (Robert DeNiro, who is actually reprising his role from DePalma’s GREETINGS) has returned from Vietnam and hooks up with a porn producer to film peeping tom films of himself seducing a women named Judy Bishop (Jennifer Salt, SISTERS), who lives in the housing project across from his apartment. As Jon films the tenants across the street, we peek into various lives — a family whose mother has bought a new film camera, a gigolo who has a new woman every night, an avant garde artist who paints his subjects black and Judy who sadly watches as her roommates go out on dates with their boyfriends night after night as she stays home watching TV.
Then the film all of a sudden changes gears and Jon gets involved in an experimental theater performance with the avant garde artist from across the street. The environment theater performance is titled “Be Black, Baby” and aggressively shows the audience members what it is like to be black in America. This activist production leads Jon to become an urban guerilla.
At times the film has a slapsticky feel and at other times it dips into faux documentary mode. The stylistic differences through the film create a chaotic feel, which brings the material alive, but also creates confusion in terms of what DePalma is trying to say. He juxtaposes a lot of the pressing issues of the time in a very daring way.
However, Jon never emerges as a compelling central character in any way. Like his peeping tom films, the audience is kept at a distance from the action. This distance leaves us at too much of a safe distance from whatever message there is to be gleaned.
Long before ANALYZE THIS and MEET THE PARENTS, this film shows that DeNiro has great comedic timing. His actions are twisted, but we still like him nonetheless even if we know nothing about him. The ending in a modern context is more complex than it was when the film debuted. Within the chaos, the film says enough and challenges the viewer in such a compelling way that it works to some degree. Its flawed narrative is in service of its overall comment about the dawn of the ‘70s. The comment is not crystal clear, but never boring. You have to see the film to really know what I mean, but it’s worth it.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
