Review of Murder à la Mod (1968) by John L — 26 Sep 2013

3 stars is generous for what is obviously a very early work showing De Palma when he was still a diamond in the rough perfecting his skills and greatly hampered by a miniscule budget. Didn't want it to be a "negative" review though.

The concept and plot are reasonably decent. The real value of this film, if the viewer can look past the elements driven by severe budget constraints, is watching De Palma exhibit some of his techniques seen later. A (partially) non-linear storyline shows the same significant events from several different characters' perspectives (a la Tarantino's Jackie Brown). Camera is frequently 1st person point-of-view and hand held. Jump cuts are used in several scenes as alternative methods and/or the special effects needed were not possible within his budget. Several long tracking shots are used as well. The underlying theme used to carry the plot is about film making, one that's reused later in "Blow Out.".

Like Kubrick's, Polanski's, and Scorsese's initial feature films, this one also shows rough edges. Look past them and see some of the De Palma that would shine in his later films.