Scarface

press release:

MON, 9/19, 7 p.m. SCARFACE: USA | 1983 | DCP | 170 min.

Director: Brian De Palma; Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

De Palma’s once-controversial-now-canonized remake of Howard Hawks’ gangster movie tells the saga of Tony Montana (Pacino), a foul-mouthed Cuban criminal who briefly rules a cocaine empire. Like the main character, De Palma’s visual approach is gleefully excessive but “the violence grows out of the lives of the characters; it isn't used for thrills but for a sort of harrowing lesson about self-destruction” (Roger Ebert).

Brian De Palma Thrills Us! series: Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow’s new documentary De Palma combines interviews and film clips to take us deep into the life and work of Brian De Palma, master of the contemporary thriller and one of American cinema’s most expressive, eclectic, and personal filmmakers. In his New York Times review De Palma, critic A.O. Scott writes “It’s almost hard to believe that he could have made so many wild, haunting and provocative movies, but by the end of the documentary, you may want nothing more than to see them all.” While not a complete retrospective, this series provides you the opportunity to see the first theatrical screening of De Palma in Madison, plus 10 of Brian De Palma’s very best features, several of which will be shown on original 35mm prints.