Review of Hi, Mom! (1970) by Steven M — 18 Apr 2010

After having seen Greetings, I expected the same knockabout energy to be present in this "radical" early De Palma film. That typical late 60s feel is there, where boundaries are being pushed and obviously this caused some controversy at the time for its nudity. Gerrit Graham's nude scene is very funny though.

However, the real hard-hitting and lasting impact is from the "Be Black, Baby" film-within-a-film. This guerilla-style shot sequence where white middle class New Yorkers pay to endure the black experience is very dark, disturbing and raises many disturbing questions. I was very impressed with De Palma's modern take on examining race relations and it says a lot that I thought it relevant in 2010.

For the "Be Black, Baby" sequence alone this has to rank high among De Palma's artistic triumphs. He shows his class early doors here.