De Palma review – frank and unfettered

This documentary about the career of Brian De Palma takes a suitably forthright approach: De Palma’s work is explored in his own words, and his words only, uncluttered by talking heads and critical evaluations. And frankly, De Palma is such an entertaining and open raconteur, his words are all you need. High points include an anecdote about Sean Penn and Michael J Fox on the set of Casualties of War; his thoughts on the size of the drill bit that perforated Deborah Shelton in Body Double and De Palma’s trademark exclamation of “Holy mackerel!”