Say "Brian De Palma." Let the Fighting Start. - New York Times

Say "Brian De Palma." Let the Fighting Start. - New York Times

A.O. Scott has an interesting article about the constant critical battles over the films of Brian DePalma. These critical battles are largely over style versus story, as DePalma is generally accused of elevating style so high he loses track of story. Defenders of DePalma, according to Scott, argue that this attention to stunning visual style is rare these days, and so should be valued. I'm not sure I agree, or at least, I would argue that a focus on sharp story telling is even rarer than a focus on visual style. And if you agree that DePalma does sacrifice story on the altar of style, than it's hard not to conclude that his films may have contributed to the lack of high quality stories in theaters these days.