Cuban refugee Tony Montana arrives in Miami with nothing and rises through the cocaine trade to the top of the criminal empire. Then he falls as disastrously as he rose, and his own paranoia and excess destroy everything he built. I feel like Brian De Palma's gangster film, which goes big on everything, treats the American Dream as a death wish.
Scarface is a 1983 crime and drama film directed by Brian De Palma. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 narrative and 3 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Mulholland Drive uses several of the same techniques.
Making a villain or anti-hero more extreme as the film goes on, with each act bolder and harder to predict. The fear comes from never knowing what they will do next.
How this film uses it
Tony's path is a carefully measured escalation, and each act is more excessive than the last. The cocaine use, the violence and the paranoia feed each other in a spiral. It only ends when there is nothing left to destroy.
Where to see it
Tony at his desk, buried in cocaine in the final act. The whole film's escalation is packed into one image. The excess is his triumph, and it is also what is killing him.
Moving the camera in 1 long, unbroken and carefully planned shot that follows the action through several spaces. You see how people fit into their world without a single cut.
How this film uses it
De Palma uses long, gliding tracking shots, where the camera moves along with the action. They move through Tony's world, through the mansion and through the nightclub. They make his empire feel huge, so its eventual collapse is more dizzying.
Where to see it
The Babylon Club sequence. The camera tracks through the crowd as Tony looks over the territory he has claimed. The shot shows you his world at the moment before it starts to turn on him.
Giving specific colors to characters, groups or ideas and sticking to them through the film. Each time a color appears, it tells you something beyond what is shown.
How this film uses it
White is everywhere in the film: the cocaine, Tony's suits, his mansion's décor. It is literally the stuff he rises on. It also shows him reaching for a purity he will never have. The color is seductive and emptied of meaning at the same time.
Where to see it
The film's visual climax: Tony's face in the mound of cocaine. The white powder covers him. It is the exact color of everything he wanted and everything it cost.
Using lighting, framing, editing and acting to make a character's slide into extremism look exciting at first. You feel the pull yourself before the film shows you the consequences.
How this film uses it
De Palma films Tony's rise with the look of glamour: the mansion, the suits, the fireworks. His climb through the criminal world looks irresistible even as the moral cost piles up. The film's style helps seduce you too.
Where to see it
Tony looking over his mansion and his empire from the stairs. He is shot to look like a king in his castle. It looks so good that you only see the critique of the American Dream when you think back on it.
Questions
Scarface: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Scarface use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Scarface (1983): Escalating Villain Intensity, Tracking Shot Choreography, Color Symbolism and Radicalization Aestheticization.
Who directed Scarface?
Brian De Palma directed Scarface, released in 1983. CineCode also covers Mission: Impossible (1996).
What films are similar to Scarface?
Films that share techniques with Scarface include Mulholland Drive (2001), Goodfellas (1990), Léon: The Professional (1994), American History X (1998).
