I Found It At the Movies: 1993—Carlito’s Way (Brian De Palma)

By Jeffrey Goodman
URL: http://www.moviemaker.com/blog/item/i_found_it_at_the_movies_1993_carlitos_way_brian_de_palma_20120110/
Cinematic from the very get-go. What an opening this movie has: Black and white, slow motion, voiceover and that mournful music, all beginning with an extraordinarily well-choreographed long take that is at once abstract, complex and sensuous. And that's just the moviemaking. At the root of this, one of my favorite crime films of all time, is a theme that affects me deeply: The idea that one mistake may trap you forever. If Carlito had just left Benny Blanco alone, stayed out of his way, everything would have been okay. But he made one blunder, and he could never quite escape it.