Hi, Mom!
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Movie Reviews of Hi, Mom!
Movie Review: "they'll be blowing 'em up faster than they can build 'em"
Summary: 5 Stars
Hi Mom! showcases the awesome talent of Robert De Niro when he was rather young in this film directed by Brian De Palma. In a way that I can't quite verbalize, the film somehow gains its strength from the very fact that there is a side dish of surrealism mixed in with the main plot; and that creativity is something I greatly admire. The acting is wonderful and they couldn't have cast the actors any better; everyone's acting is great. The cinematography works well and the choreography shines in crowd scenes as well as through the rest of the film. The action moves along at a very good pace and I was never once bored; this film became more and more interesting, pulling me in further and further as the film progressed.
When the film starts, we quickly meet young aspiring "peep art" film maker John Rubin (Robert De Niro). John moves into a very shabby apartment across from a New York City high-rise building to surreptitiously film the romantic escapades and other goings on of the people living across the lot using a zoom lens from his boss/partner, Joe Banner (Allen Garfield). Soon John is able to film practically everyone across the lot using his camera and new lens; and wow, how he gets footage! John also notices that a pretty young woman, Judy Bishop (Jennifer Salt), is quite single and available; and after an elaborate ruse he worms his way into her life.
Meanwhile, things don't go exactly as planned with John's film project--while he was trying to film him and Judy alone together with just the camera back in his apartment, the camera tilts too low and films someone else who Joe Banner isn't interested in, to say the least. Banner gets rid of John and John must do something else to make a few bucks. John joins an extremist acting troupe as he continues his romance with Judy; and that's when you should look for the extended and remarkably powerful scene of their "show" entitled Be Black, Baby. Talk about intense! De Niro is scarcely in this very long extended scene but he does his part well and the other actors give a performance you won't easily forget. Some people say that this is the point where the film goes too far away from the opening plot but I think it works well. It's surrealistic and strong.
Of course, from here the plot can go anywhere; and it certainly takes a few twists and turns that leave me thinking about this film. It tackles not just racial issues but also the war in Vietnam with other themes winding their way in and out of the movie; and it's all very impressive. In addition, look for Charles Durning to do a great cameo as a building superintendent; and Gerrit Graham does a wonderful job of playing Gerrit Wood, a film student who is also connected to the radical theater troupe.
The DVD comes with few extras; on one side you get the movie in widescreen format and the other side has it in fullscreen format. There's the theatrical trailer but that's about it; I would have loved some commentary but unfortunately it's not there.
Hi Mom! is a must-have for any fan of Robert De Niro or the other actors in this film. If you like artistic films with social commentary that actually means something and stimulates your brain, add this film to your collection.
Movie Review: A training ground for DeNiro!?!?...Please the man is a natural
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is so crazy. Hi, Mom asks a great deal from the viewer, and offers little in return. It includes frequent tonal shifts, abrupt changes in generic gear. It begins as an urban farce, transforms into slightly meditative romantic comedy, then, by turns, social satire, and domestic comedy. A viewer could be forgiven for feeling slightly whip-lashed by the film's violent conclusion.
Robert De Niro stars (his third De Palma movie) as a Vietnam vet who becomes obsessed with 16mm filmmaking as a way of making social connections and studying his society. He focuses on a Greenwich Village housing development. Politics become enmeshed with sex when De Niro courts Jennifer Salt (later star of De Palma's "Sisters" ) as a means of gaining access to the apartment building, a symbol of establishment and social conformity.
Hi, Mom! proves to be prescient about the uses of media to extend vision into other people's lives and communicate cultural frustration. Although the methods have changed from film to video, the same curiosity and motivation exist. There's also the same potential to deceive public perception; that's the idea behind De Palma's satire of public TV--then called educational television.
De Palma's inventiveness is highlighted in a sequence titled "Be Black Baby," where racial tension, media hypocrisy and revolutionary politics collide. This segment just kill me because it turned out to the sharpest, funniest, most observant, and most disturbing out of the entire film. No movie or TV sketch since has been as funny or powerful about American social hypocrisy. Its details are too good to give away. To see it is to never forget it. The title, incidentally, refers to the common subversion of FCC rules that most people, excited about their 15 minutes of fame, can't help flouting. This movie announced the beginning of a major film sensibility and today it looks smarter and funnier than any current movie that passes for social comedy. Not an ordinary film of entertainment but very interesting. I would highly recommend this to those who wants to see the early years of Bobby DeNiro and Brain DePalma.
Movie Review: can't believe it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been looking for this movie forever , I saw it like 5 or 6 years ago on tv and I got completely hooked on it,It was really impresive, it may seem kind of arty nowadays but it has segments witch you'll see later in taxi driver, there is also a very unpleaseant scene which involves some kind of street theatre ..., I definetely recommend this movie to Brian de Palma aficionados and lovers of strong performances.
Movie Review: Amusing Dark Comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
In essence this film is a sequel to DePalma's earlier film, "Greetings" with Robert DeNiro's character returning from that film. The humor here is more macabre and at times it seems to be provocative for the sake of being provocative. There are also moments of outright brilliance. One is a sequence where a group of black radicals conduct a play where the audience, a group of white liberals, experience the feeling of being black in America. DePalma utilizes some interesting editing and cinematography techniques, alternating film stock and lighting, going from color to black and white. I would have to say that this is an interesting curio from a time in our country where there was great social upheaval.Movie Review: A must see for fans of De Niro and De Palma
Summary: 3 Stars
I have watched this film twice now and I still don't understand it any better. At times it is quite funny other times extremely unsettling and hard to watch. What do you expect from star Robert De Niro and director Brian De Palma? Pretty much all of their films fall into that category: darkly humorous one moment deeply disturbing the next. This film is a sequel to the two's earlier collaboration Greetings which I never saw. Maybe that film can shed some light on this one. De Niro stars as John Rubin. When we first meet him he is buying an extremely run down apartment with the intentions of filming his neighbors in the housing project across from him. He plans to turn his findings into "erotic art". He tries to sell the idea to a porn king who initially isn't having it but fronts him the cash anyway. Automatically you have the makings of a De Palma homage to Rear Window. The people across the way include a revolutionary (the brilliant Gerrit Graham) and a lonely woman (Jennifer Salt) who Rubin starts to romance. Even that is not what it seems since we learn that Rubin doesn't actually love her he is just using her to star in one of his erotic art movies. What makes this film challenging is the second story, second film really, that De Palma tells which is entitled Be Black Baby. The Graham character is putting on a play that is aimed at white people to help them understand what it is really like to be black in America. He and a handful of African Americans ambush white people on the streets and get in their faces challenging them. The first scene starts off a bit uncomfortable but also dangerously funny. Where it goes from there just gets extremely uncomfortable and violent. I won't give it away because it must be viewed without knowing what is happening to get the full impact. It is very unsettling and feels extremely real and it lasts for a good long time. You want to fast forward or turn it off but yet you don't because you are fascinated and that right there is the power of De Palma. This film is full of his camera mastery but like in his other films Body Double or Dressed to Kill it becomes too much to handle and you want it to end but you are so eager to see what he will do next. De Niro is absolutely riveting in this film, only his third. You get the feeling that much of this film was improvised and he does so thrillingly. He is very funny at times but then he transitions where you don't know what he is capable of doing next. It is a great film to see how even this early in their careers, about the third or fourth film for both of them, they were already the masters they would become. Certainly not a straight up comedy like it is advertised it is still a great underground film.
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