Hi, Mom! (1970)

Directed by: Brian De Palma | 87 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Charles Durning, Robert De Niro, Allen Garfield, Abraham Goren, Lara Parker, Bruce Price, Ricky Parker, Andy Parker, Jennifer Salt, Robbie Heywood, Leslie Bornstein, Paul Bartel, Gerrit Graham, Nelson Peltz, Delia Abrams, Tofer Delaney Margaret Pine, Hector Valentin Lino Jr., Carole Leverett, Ruth Bocour, Bart De Palma, Arthur Bierman, Tina Hirsch, Buddy Butler, David Connell, Carolyn Craven, Milton Earl Forrest, Joyce Griffin, Kirk Kirksey, Rutanya Alda, Beth Bowden Gene Elman, Joe Fields, Paul Milvy, Joe Stillman, Carol Vogel, Peter Maloney, William Daley, Floyd L. Peterson, Paul Hirsch, Joseph King

Strange, former film by director Brian De Palma starring Robert De Niro. “Hi, Mom!” tells in a low budget style about the strange life of a Vietnam veteran, who struggles with the rapidly changing society. The result is a chaotic, amateurish-looking production that bears similarities in style to Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough 1973 film Mean Streets. Mom!’. It is clear from the start that the film cost little money. The story just begins somewhere in New York. No build-up, no tension. Later on, poorly lit scenes, stiff acting, messy camera work and, above all, a bizarre story.

The film tries to combine two completely different stories and fails blatantly. On the one hand, it concerns the aspirations of amateur filmmaker De Niro, who receives financial support from a shady porn boss to pay for sneaky material from De Niro’s neighbors across the street. On the other side goes ‘Hi, Mom!’ on the struggle of black Americans for equal civil rights. The second part is not at all related to the first part of the film, but the freedom struggle is a lot more interesting than the everyday experiences of a novice filmmaker. In 1970, a young Robert De Niro (26) is about to embark on a major film career. “Hi, Mom!” is a good example of the fact that even the greatest actors have to start at the bottom. Occasionally you see De Niro as you know him, for example when in a play he is a racist police officer who oppresses the black population. For the most part, however, it is manageable, because De Niro plays a weakly developed role that cannot be credited with much credit.

No, the value of the film, despite many shortcomings, is in the directing style and time representation. “Hi, Mom!” predates Brian De Palma’s 1976 breakthrough ‘Carrie’. Six years earlier, De Palma’s resources are clearly more modest, which explains some mediocre actors and cheap-looking filming techniques such as frequent use of the handheld camera. The director also experiments with accelerated and slowed down images, without much success. De Palma’s voyeurism fetish can, however, be seen when De Niro spies on his neighbors across the street from his apartment. In addition, a powerful element is that the film shows the turbulent times of the late 1960s. “Hi, Mom!” deals, in a bizarre way, with the freedom struggle of black radicals. The film seems to be a logical consequence of race riots in American cities, the hippie movement, violent murders of politicians and celebrities and the Vietnam War. “Hi, Mom!” is pronounced left in character.

Nevertheless, ‘Hi, Mom!’ food for cult lovers and loyal fans of De Palma and De Niro. The film proves that De Palma was still searching for his own style; a style that later so cleverly elaborates on the voyeur theme of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 ‘Rear Window’. Many may quickly give up on so much experimentation, bizarre storylines and cheap shots.