Review of Passion (2013) by Coral C — 05 Sep 2013

Despite being tonally inconsistent and silly at times, it's a (somewhat) welcome return to form for De Palma, even if his Hitchcock-aping doesn't really take effect until the last act. Structurally and tonally, one can divide this movie into three parts: The first is kind of like a dramedy (suggested by the soundtrack), the second is more of a melodrama and the third (and final) act goes into full WTF mode as De Palma pulls every trick in his admittedly small book and tries to get to the viewer to question the reality of everything they see.

As such, the movie isn't really that effective until this section, with most of the prior dialogue seeming sophomoric and shallow, much like the relationships and characters in the film. Still, this movie is worth watching for that final act.

It's style over substance, but it's got quite a sense of style.