tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post6407837117267226751..comments2024-03-28T02:30:08.913-04:00Comments on Not Just Movies: Brian De Palma: The Black DahliaJakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-4418596185220420352012-09-04T23:46:17.873-04:002012-09-04T23:46:17.873-04:00LA Confidential's one of my favorite movies. N...LA Confidential's one of my favorite movies. Not sure if it was 'too neatly handled', but hey, to each there own.Rascalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-89746214518491614332012-04-06T02:04:49.892-04:002012-04-06T02:04:49.892-04:00Peter,
Your comment got caught in my spam filter ...Peter,<br /><br />Your comment got caught in my spam filter for some reason and I just now saw it. Thanks so much for your comment. Yeah, it's been a while since I've seen L.A. Confidential because I find it too neatly handled, at least narratively. You would have a better idea of how it looks visually. I don't think I make it all the way clear here but I VASTLY prefer De Palma's adaptation to Hanson's. I think De Palma visualizes what Hanson had to ploddingly stress in dialogue. I've been meaning to rewatch it, if only to confirm my ambivalence for the film, and your comment makes me both reluctant and more eager than ever to look at L.A. Confidential again.Jake Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15532951308638768249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-41772244498009283282012-02-26T12:02:47.683-05:002012-02-26T12:02:47.683-05:00The Black Dahlia is based on the book by James Ell...The Black Dahlia is based on the book by James Ellroy, whose L.A. Confidential is regularly cited as one of the great American films of the last 20 years. That film frames Ellroy's unsparingly critical view of Hollywood with a formal perfection, its layered narrative nonetheless neatly arranged and its direction generally crisp and uncomplicated. De Palma's film is precisely the opposite of all that. It's messy, self-annihilating and convoluted. Yet it is De Palma's movie, not Curtis Hanson's, that visually embodies the tone in which Ellroy's writing casts Hollywood.<br /><br />It's funny--I know what you're saying here, but rewatch L.A. Confidential sometime (I got to see it last year on a massive screen at the Castro in San Francisco); shot by shot it's an absolute disaster visually, and although it might be less messy on a macro level, on a micro cinematographic level De Palma's film is far more coherent.<br /><br />Good review.Peter Lenihanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02321136631371064331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-35410722735096226482012-02-25T18:42:50.489-05:002012-02-25T18:42:50.489-05:00See, I think the last 20 minutes are where it beco...See, I think the last 20 minutes are where it becomes transcendent. It's a full-on fever dream that brings out the best in De Palma, and the best <i>of</i> De Palma, considering how much of his various tricks and themes come out in those last minutes.Jake Colehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15532951308638768249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-494160638739613756.post-29470125136143205652012-02-25T16:46:34.013-05:002012-02-25T16:46:34.013-05:00I try not to compare the book to the film but befo...I try not to compare the book to the film but before I went to see the film. I did read the book and I was really into the narrative style that was far more psychological and entrancing.<br /><br />The film I thought was alright at first but when I saw it again. It didn't hold up for me at all. I really disliked the last 20 minutes over the reveal because it got way too campy for me.thevoid99https://www.blogger.com/profile/03055459287396592446noreply@blogger.com