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The De Palma Decade
Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
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Book Presentation:
Journey with award-winning filmmaker and author Laurent Bouzereau through acclaimed director Brian De Palma’s renowned—and controversial—horror and thriller films that redefined cinema in the 1970s and early 80s with interviews conducted over three decades and fresh takes.
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language, melding his signature themes with specific filmmaking techniques that are now synonymous with his name.
Acclaimed filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau explores the seven films that came to define the De Palma decade: Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Carrie, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out. Combining film analysis, detailed production histories, and interviews with De Palma himself, his casts, and collaborators, Bouzereau presents the definitive record on this unrivaled period of cinematic creativity and the emergence of an auteur who would continue to influence filmmaking in the decades that followed.
About the Author:
Laurent Bouzereau is an award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author. His credits include the feature documentaries Music by John Williams; Faye, about legendary actress Faye Dunaway; Mama’s Boy, based on the best-selling memoir by Dustin Lance Black; Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind; and the acclaimed Netflix series Five Came Back. He is the author of several books on cinema, including Steven Spielberg: The First Ten Years. Bouzereau and his husband, Markus Keith, run Nedland Media, a production company based in Los Angeles.
Press Reviews:
"A perfect treatise on one of cinema’s most original auteurs. It’s filled with fascinating insights and thoughtful analysis that will delight fans of De Palma’s work. Bouzereau proves once again that he is one of our greatest film writers.This book belongs on every cinephile’s shelf!"―Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One
"A singular voice in a generation of ‘Pure Cinema’ practitioners, De Palma remains more complex, personal, and deep a filmmaker than most. Laurent Bouzereau’s The De Palma Decade does a terrific job at parting the veil on one of De Palma’s most prodigious periods and witnessing the birth of an American auteur that managed to manipulate, enchant, and terrify audiences worldwide. Beyond genre, beyond all definition, this is an indispensable text for all those of us intent in deciphering the master."―Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker
"Laurent Bouzereau has written an enthralling overview that’s as much a fascinating examination of the author as it is of his subject. Yet he always keeps De Palma, and the power of his work, in the center of the frame. We feel the love of cinema that connects this pair."―Elvis Mitchell, host of The Treatment, KCRW
"Both unabashed De Palma fan and discerning critic, Laurent Bouzereau delivers riveting detail and fresh insight into a transformative era for film and one of its most fascinating figures. The De Palma Decade is delightfully obsessive."―Julie Salamon, author of The Devil’s Candy
"As a devotee of De Palma who has pored over every frame of the operatic cinema discussed in The De Palma Decade, I was thrilled that there was even more to learn about the Master of the Macabre. An essential book about every facet of honing these masterpieces, it’s meticulous, brilliantly structured, stylish, and endlessly fascinating, much like De Palma himself."―Edgar Wright, writer/director
"This admiring book . . . persuasively shows readers the substance behind De Palma’s style."
―Library Journal
"As audacious as a bucket of pig's blood . . . The deliberately opaque nightmarish early work of De Palma is ripe for reappraisal, and this book gets to the dark heart of it with zeal and style."―Empire
"A stylish and deeply personal exploration of [De Palma's] work."―Total Film
"A fantastically entertaining and essential study of an iconic director."―The Film Stage
"This cinematic love letter contains more than in-depth commentary: there’s biography, oral history, and personal reflection. The result is a playful, even whimsical, contribution to the effort to consolidate De Palma’s auteur status, to evaluate De Palma’s reputation as one of America’s most important, though divisive, filmmakers."―The Arts Fuse
"Laurent [Bouzereau] stands in a class all of his own. If I were teaching a film studies class, I would devote an entire semester of study to [De Palma] with The De Palma Decade as the assigned textbook."―Nikk Nelson, MovieJawn
"Bouzereau’s passion for De Palma is infectious, and the book is breezy and fun—a nostalgic trip for fans of early De Palma."
―Cinema Sentries
"Bouzereau crafts an engaging and informative look at De Palma’s varied cinematic hits and misses."―Conskipper
"Reading Bouzereau's intelligent, in-depth look at De Palma's diverse, daring, innovative works of one incredible decade will expand the readers' understanding and respect for the director."
―PopCultureClassics.com
See the publisher website: Running Press
See the complete filmography of Brian de Palma on the website: IMDB ...
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The Definitive Story Behind All Four Films
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Subject: One Film > Indiana Jones
> On a related topic:
Un-American Psycho (2012)
Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible
by Chris Dumas
Subject: Director > Brian de Palma
Becoming Visionary (2007)
Brian De Palma's Cinematic Education of the Senses
by Eyal Peretz
Subject: Director > Brian de Palma
Liberating Hollywood (2018)
Women Directors and the Feminist Reform of 1970s American Cinema
Subject: Countries > United States
Trying to Get Over (2016)
African American Directors After Blaxploitation, 1977-1986
by Keith Corson
Subject: On Films > Guides and dictionaries
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