Sexiga 80-talsthrillers är inte tidernas roligaste genre, men när Brian De Palma får slänga lite vad som helst i sitt manus utan någon riktig tanke över om det kan fastna och strösslar det med ren Hitchcock-stöld här och där rycks till och med jag med i det hela. Hitchcock made pretty much perfect movies. After discovering his girlfriend had played the loving fiancé just too well, Jake is literally told that he’s “gotta act” by a ruthless acting coach who purposely confuses the two meanings of the word in a shock psychoanalysis session. DePalma apparently took a look at Rear Window, Vertigo, and Chinatown and said, "let's put the three together with a pornographic slant." ), but it is THE Brian De Palma movie. A list of Edgar Wright's favorite 1000 Movies per his list on Mubi on July 27th, 2016. twitter.com/edgarwright/status/758339515421433856 mubi.com/lists/edgar-wrights-favorite-movies. The second half is buoyed by the presence of Melanie Griffith and a virtuoso musical sequence that feels utterly rapturous (albeit incongruous) but when it tries to simply tell its story it utterly fails to satisfy. Endlessly entertaining, arousing and creepy, Body Double is the type of film they really don’t make for big audiences anymore. In an unexpected and exhilarating music sequence where Jake plays a parody of his nebbish self accompanied physically and musically by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the director presents a need to “fake it ’til you make it” as absolute and inescapable. Despite his new understanding of the need for falsehood to navigate the world, he is still only good enough to act in a low-budget porn film. The score straight up SUCKS, some questionable casting decisions like the Bill Maher lookin ass lead (who is pretty terrible) and the John Tesh villain. Although Jake “likes to watch,” in this alternate reality of depravity he gets the girl and the orgasm, and while this sequence turns out to be a scene in a porn production, his sexual pleasure seems unsimulated; even more important is that his performance doesn’t stop at “cut.” He keeps playing the porn actor, all leather jacket and slicked-back hair, which enables him to extract information from his co-star, Holly Body (Melanie Griffith). How and why did De Palma create this piece of garbage? Also big time NO on the circular tracking shots, looks horrible. "Exec: "I dunno, Brian. It’s like mentioning that water is wet. After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. This…, Fight Professor 1,052 films 2,442 12 Edit, The film noir genre generally refers to mystery and crime dramas produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.…, mattyfastwheelz 1,340 films 3,686 110 Edit, Jason Bullok 1,000 films 8,434 159 Edit. Elle berce tout le film. What is 'Body Double' about? Directed by Brian De Palma. TMDb The enthralling embrace, camera movement, and soundtrack, together with the background’s falsity being just noticeable enough, make this moment bigger than life, a dream coming true and exceeding all of Jake’s wishes and thus still feeling like a vision. When rewatching Body Double for the third time, its most striking element was, as on my first viewing, Craig Wasson’s performance. Despite his ridiculous presence, Wasson as Jake is also likable for the endless kindness hidden behind his helplessness. This is better than Hitchcock. Jake wasn’t only deceived when he was a passive man: he is again duped when he starts convincing himself that he can and deserves to have control — that is, when he begins peeping on who he thinks is Gloria Revelle. This unquestionably intended ridiculousness in fact informs an audience of the approach required by the entire film: just as it is difficult to take this ludicrous failed actor and naïve man seriously, Body Double itself is better enjoyed with a grain of salt. It is telling of De Palma’s joyful cynicism that this scene, an apotheosis of fakery and eroticism, is probably Body Double‘s most memorable. "Exec: "Okay, I guess. By fully putting his strategy out in the open and letting Jake accomplish himself, De Palma offers complete catharsis for his character and audience: the claustrophobic nightmare becomes a scene in a film, and Jake, taken out of his stupor by his director, understands the necessity to perceive this moment as a “shot” he must “get.” This power fantasy is realized as he returns to the tomb and reenters his reality, no longer behaving as himself but as an “actor,” active and corresponding to whom he wishes to be. In these layers of reality, Jake’s adventure becomes not only dreamlike, but the confusing materialization of his dreams of mastery. A phenomenal score and the use of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax left me so blown away the first time I saw… Review by CJ Probst ★★★★ 3. With this voluptuous tracking shot, he creates a grotesquely sexual visual trick completely at odds with the hopeful tone of Pino Donaggio’s soundtrack and Jake’s cheerful dialogue with the clerk. Will isn’t enough for him to act: in the film’s opening scene, he finds himself physically unable to rise from the coffin in which he lays while playing the vampire in a horror-porn film. They don't have any tits... Or Frankie Goes to Hollywood for that matter. What a shit ton of fun this was! Dreadful music. Will isn’t enough for him to act: in the film’s opening scene, he finds himself physically unable to rise from the coffin in which he lays while playing the vampire in a horror-porn film. Sam ends up falling into the water below and Jake and Holly survive… Claustrophic Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) has just been fired from his acting job and gone home to find his girlfriend in bed with another man. Unable to even move, he can act as neither an actor or person. Terribly acted. "Brian: "Uhhh they're not perfect, doofus. The original musical score was composed by Pino Donaggio. Atrocious leads. Kazuo Ishiguro Has Scripted a Remake of Akira Kurosawa’s, Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Jonah Hill & More Join Jennifer Lawrence & Cate Blanchett in Adam McKay’s, Werner Herzog Looks to the Skies in First Trailer for, Jim Cummings on the Future of Indie Film, Working with Robert Forster, and Recording His Movies as Podcasts. Body Double is my favorite De Palma film and one that I could watch at any given moment. No real producer would have told me that in a million years! Väldigt bra soundtrack också, måste sägas. Fuck you, purists. Eventually removing her sunglasses, Gloria Revelle (Deborah Shelton) literally reveals the person behind the fantasy and starts talking to Jake, demonstrating a range of emotions and finally, to fully contradict her initial position as sex object, expresses her own impulsive desires. It takes a certain confidence for a director to cast someone as bland and wussy as Craig Wasson, an actor I can’t recall seeing in another film besides this one. De Palma remakes another Hitchcock with his trademark sleaze and daring filmmaking. Vicious stuff. SPOILER ALERT (obviously) If you mean "Does the main character die ? Utterly pathetic. Finally, all the dreams of control and nightmares of powerlessness that Jake has had to face come to the verge of realization in Body Double‘s climax. Far too much financial risk. It makes no sense, but it's genuinely glorious in its absurdity. Jones Russ Marin Lane Davies Barbara Crampton Larry "Flash" Jenkins Monte Landis Linda Shaw Ty Randolph Denise Loveday Gela Nash Ray Hassett Rick Gunderson Jerry Brutsche Michael Kearns Rob Paulsen Jeremy Lawrence Rod Loomis Gary F. Griffith Michael White The fact that critics continued to either utilize it as a framework for faint praise or sly takedowns is less of a reflection of De Palma and more of an inability of the critic. Made by fans in Auckland, New Zealand. Close to 300 users submitted a list…, Jayce Fryman 18,694 films 2,869 99 Edit, This list collects every film from the Starting List that became They Shoot Pictures Don't They's 1000 Greatest Films. But there's someone else fixated on her, too, leading to at least one deadly encounter. IMDb I really need to check out that De Palma documentary because I would really love to hear him talk about how in the hell he got away with this one. Body Double isn’t a serious film, but it takes its outrageous fancifulness seriously. It is only after his failed attempt at saving Gloria in a real-life nightmare of obstacles, impotency, and gore when Jake truly realizes that dreaming isn’t enough, and that he must push his performance further: he will actually pretend to be someone else to discover the truth and fulfill his sexual desires. Craig Wasson Melanie Griffith Gregg Henry Deborah Shelton Guy Boyd Dennis Franz David Haskell Rebecca Stanley Al Israel Douglas Warhit B.J. I once described this as ‘Alfred Hitchcock, meet the 1980’s’ and I stand by that statement. De Palma’s screenplay, however, complicates Jake’s progression from inaction to action by doubling up on the idea of the world’s illusory nature. Such an obvious comparison says less about the filmmaker than any general comments. "Body Double" is an exhilarating exercise in pure filmmaking, a thriller in the Hitchcock tradition in which there's no particular point except that the hero is flawed, weak, and in terrible danger -- and we identify with him completely. Mobile site. ...Not to be dramatic but I would die for Holly Body, Films that encapsulate that quote from Tenet (2020). Jake’s kindness does not entirely explain his ability to confront Gloria and go out of his way in helping her. Granted, Rear Window was begging for it, but we're not at home to victim blaming here. The illusory dominance he acquires by watching Gloria dance for him every night become (almost) reality when he meets and kisses her, even though she actually isn’t the dancer. "Referencing Hitchcock while talking about Brian De Palma movies has always been a strange exercise. © Letterboxd Limited. Perhaps not quite the best De Palma movie (I might give the edge to Carlito's Way or Hi, Mom! Source data can be found via ryno731's original reddit post. En kul film! You’ll sit there and watch her forever for this to happen.” — director Brian DePalma, A thrilling violent mindbender that was ahead of its time. Right before Jake goes to his car, he orders a hot dog from a street stand that De Palma shoots from the side before gliding to its front. As Donaggio’s entrancing yet delicate theme, “Telescope,” begins, Jake hesitantly approaches the device and repeatedly looks around as De Palma’s camera remains on him, stressing Jake’s unease with accepting even this moderate form of agency. De Palma’s exuberant style comes to perfect use when dream and reality become thus entwined: as soon as Jake and Gloria’s lips meet, the camera starts encircling the couple frenetically, as though struggling to capture this spiral of pure pleasure, while a green screen projection of the beach replaces the real one.