Brian De Palma film it retains De Palma's considerable visual flair, but points more toward his work in mainstream entertainments such as "", the thematic complex thriller for which he is now better known. For many film-goers, De Palma's gangster films, most notably "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way", pushed the envelope of on-screen violence and depravity, and yet greatly vary from one another in both style and content and also illustrate De Palma's evolution as a film-maker. In essence, the excesses of "Scarface" contrast with the more emotional tragedy of "Carlito's Way". Both films feature Al Pacino in what has become a fruitful working
Brian De Palma providing the audience with a visceral and disturbingly emotional experience. De Palma describes the sequence as a constant invocation of Brechtian distanciation: "First of all, I am interested in the medium of film itself, and I am constantly standing outside and making people aware that they are always watching a film. At the same time I am evolving it. In "Hi, Mom!" for instance, there is a sequence where you are obviously watching a ridiculous documentary and you are told that and you are aware of it, but it still sucks you in. There is a kind of Brechtian alienation