IMDb plot summary: A mysterious blonde woman kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.
Directed by Brian De Palma. Starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, and Nancy Allen.
Dressed to Kill is a Brian De Palma thriller about a serial killer and the woman who thinks she saw the killer, but nobody will believe her. De Palma's style is often so fascinating to me, with his use of split screen to show the different things happening in his story at the same time, and his willingness to lean into the more campy nature of the stories he tells. Of course, sometimes that means that these stories feel more exploitational then I like, and that's definitely the case here, where, without giving too many plot details away, there is a strong suggestion from the beginning that the killer is a trans woman. It's the kind of thing that we now know to avoid as a trope altogether because we know it's been harmful to the trans community, and I wish that trope wasn't involved because I really enjoy the rest of the movie and that just drags it down and makes it harder to recommend or rewatch. I'm particularly struck by how often De Palma has entire scenes without dialogue, using these sort of cheesy thought bubble images to convey what's going on inside the characters' minds. It's such an interesting creative choice, and so much of this works so well, and I wish it didn't all hinge around a mentally unstable trans person.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Dressed to Kill > Ripley's Game
Dressed to Kill < Woman in the Dunes
Dressed to Kill < Battle Royale
Dressed to Kill < Drive My Car
Dressed to Kill > Bonnie and Clyde
Dressed to Kill > Viva Zapata!
Dressed to Kill < Blow Dry
Dressed to Kill < An Affair to Remember
Dressed to Kill < VeggieTales: Josh and the Big Wall!
Dressed to Kill > The Guard
Dressed to Kill > Man of La Mancha
Dressed to Kill < My Favorite Year
Final spot: #1637 out of 3626, or 55%.
No comments:
Post a Comment