Interview: Brian De Palma, Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow Endearingly Discuss Doc 'De Palma'

"Would you mind awfully if Brian De Palma was also present at your interview?" is maybe the definition of a rhetorical question. In Venice to promote the terrifically entertaining documentary "De Palma," directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow (review here), the co-directors, who were due to do interviews as a pair, and the film's titular star, had decided to do all their press engagements as a threesome. In reply, employing my world-class poker face, and, sounding only very slightly put out, I told the organizer that no, I would not mind awfully. In fact, of course, I was delighted to be meeting De Palma, and had I not been, for some crazy reason, prior to watching the film, "De Palma" would have seen to that. It's a doc so genial and witty and candid that could turn even a lukewarm non-fan into a weak-kneed acolyte.

One of its chief charms is a sense of intimacy achieved because De Palma is the only character in the film, aside from in the many...